Cobalt
by AlcatrazisGod
Summary: When Ichigo begins experience strange dreams, two oddly familiar hollows arrive to his home town and ask for his help in finding something. As the lines between these dreams and reality seem to completely blur; Ichigo finds himself involved not only with the crazed hollows, but a psychotic dictator and other nihilistic people all searching for this thing called 'Cobalt.'
1. Castaway Depot

_Note: And so begins my final story for __Bleach__, __Cobalt__. To those of you have read my previous story War Child, I will say that __Cobalt__ is fundamentally different even if some of the same people are involved. This story will be very confusing and you should not expect too many explanations for some of the more abstract scenery. I will also warn people that this story is very incoherent and there is a reason for that. That reason would be because __Cobalt__ itself should be looked at as art. Where as most of my stories are very character and plot driven, this story is mostly driven on surrealist scenes and obvious dreamscapes that are not suppose to make any form of logical sense. Although that is not to say that __Cobalt__ is not completely without characters and a story to go along with it, but if you wish to discover more about those things you'll have to read between the lines and try to discover the symbolic language this story utilizes._

_Also, __Cobalt__ does have a sister story that is in no way related to it other than the genre. That story being __Redshift__ which has been written for the series, __Ergo Proxy__. __Redshift__ and __Cobalt__ are both very similar but __Redshift__ is much more coherent and easier to follow for those of you who would prefer to read that story. Now, to the OCs. Eva Yomasa is one of the main characters and she is also involved in my story __War Child__. Trotsky is a more minor character and is involved in my __Texhnolyze__ story __Frostbite__ and my __Ergo Proxy__ story __Neo Europe__. All of the other characters are specific to this story. With this introduction now out of the way, I will leave the reader to enjoy this story. Please leave your thoughts._

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><p><strong><span>Castaway Depot<span>**

"_You have to systematically create confusion, it sets creativity free._

_Everything that is contradictory creates life." ~Salvador Dalí_

Ichigo only partially woke up at around 9AM one day. It was unnaturally dark outside due to a large number of clouds that blocked out the sun from shining on Earth's surface. His room naturally, was even darker because of this. He was only partially awake but noticed his room was fundamentally different. The walls and floor had been lined with dust as if it had not been occupied for years. There was an old wooden chair. In that chair, Ichigo could only vaguely see a figure sitting there. This did not startle him as he was not truly paying attention to the figure.

There was a small table positioned to the right, it seemed to match the chair in appearance. There was an old radio sitting on the chair. The radio did appear to be on as it was making several obnoxious noises. The usual static could be heard but no actual voices or music were present. The only thing Ichigo could hear was the generic radio static after tuning in to a dead channel.

Ichigo returned his attention to the figure in the chair. As he examined it closely, he could see that the figure was actually a preformed skeleton. The skeleton wore a casual brown suit, reading glasses over its empty eye sockets, and sat with its legs crossed as it scanned through a magazine of some sort.

Ichigo watched only halfway processing this odd scene and nodded off a few times before his eyes were finally able to open firmly, even if he was still not completely awake. The skeleton payed no attention to him and eventually closed the magazine before tossing it to the ground. One thing Ichigo noticed was that his bed, no longer felt like a bed, but more like a cot. Ichigo still did not make a move but continued to watch the skeleton go about its business.

The skeleton stood up from the chair and glanced to the left before turning in the opposite direction and approaching the radio. He turned one of the knobs until the radio stopped producing the loud static and fell to silence. The skeleton then fixed its tie and walked out of Ichigo's sight.

After a few more hours or so, Ichigo finally woke up completely. He sat up in this odd room and noticed that the room had a dirt floor. He looked around to see the ominous design of the room, he knew it was not his usual bedroom. Ichigo looked towards the only light which came from the left side of the room. He glanced in that direction to see a window on the wall but due to his eyes having a hard time adjusting to the light, he could not see what lied outside of this weird place.

Ichigo soon stood up and walked towards the chair on the opposite side of the room. He looked to the ground and noticed the magazine that the skeleton was reading previously before it abruptly walked into the awaiting oblivion.

Ichigo turned away from the magazine and looked to the radio on the table. It was still switched off and Ichigo lifted a curious eyebrow, to see what sort of stations this old thing picked up. He reached for one of the knobs and turned it counterclockwise until the radio began producing a loud static. The same static it was producing earlier. In a dreary state of being, Ichigo reached for the other knob on the opposite side of the radio and turned it clockwise to switch channels.

He quickly landed on a station that produced a different white noise. This static was more quite than what was on any of the other channels. Naturally, Ichigo stopped his channel surfing to see if anything would happen on this frequency. After only a few split seconds, Ichigo could hear the static abruptly come to dead silence. Ichigo turned the volume up and listened closely until he could hear a faint voice in the radio. "_Today's letter_," a male voice breathed. "_Is R... R... R... R... R_," the voice kept repeating this letter over and over again until Ichigo finally switched the radio off once more and left it alone.

With nothing left to discover in this strange little room, Ichigo firmly set his sights on an old wooden door on the right hand wall. For some reason, he was not reacting to anything around him. It was as if he was simply not on the same plain of reality as his current environment was. Ichigo slowly approached the door like a ghost wondering aimlessly around an old house at high noon.

He grabbed a hold of the brass handle on the door and pulled it open which produced an uncomfortable creak. When the door opened, Ichigo stepped out into a dark hallway. Once again, the ground was still nothing but dirt and there was absolutely no light within this small and claustrophobic corridor. The walls of the hall had a gloomy black and gray stripped wallpaper along them. The hall made a right turn and even though the place was dark, Ichigo could still see an old gothic mirror on the wall at the very end of the corridor. From there the hall turned off to the left to an area that Ichigo simply could not see from his current position.

Ichigo headed off in the direction of the mirror silently. He soon came close enough to it to see the reflection of a dark figure within the mirror. Ichigo looked behind himself but nobody was there. He turned back to the mirror and the figure was still there. He approached it and suddenly came to a stop as the figure became more visible to him.

There in the mirror, was the reflection of a moose standing upright as if it were a man. The moose wore a fancy black suit and held a small coffee mug in his right hoof. Ichigo remained speechless at the sight of this but his facial expressions began to change from a blank ghostly stare to a more curious one. He studied the reflection for a few moments before the moose suddenly brought the coffee mug up to his mouth and took a sip.

The moose lowered the coffee mug and looked directly at Ichigo. "I already told you," the moose informed in a deep voice, speaking perfectly as if the beast was actually a human. "The coffee is cold," the moose concluded and abruptly began melting away. Eventually, the reflection completely melted downwards until Ichigo could no longer see it. At this point, Ichigo was beginning to feel the more disturbing atmosphere of this place and also began to feel more lucid. He was just now fully processing his creepy surroundings.

"What the hell was that," Ichigo asked himself and scratched his head nervously. Ichigo then looked to the left where the corridor led to yet another door. Ichigo could see light flooding in from around the creases of the door. Without further hesitation Ichigo approached the door and pushed it open, throwing himself into the outside world.

Ichigo immediately grabbed hold of himself as he felt a strong and very cold gust of wind engulf him. The wind soon slowed down and Ichigo opened his eyes to see a vast hilly landscape surrounding him. Tall green grass lined the horizon while a gray sky floated above.

At this point, Ichigo was easily wide awake while the cold air rushed along his body in a most chilling of manners, he could not help but wonder where on earth he might be. He was only wearing casual pants and a short sleeve t-shirt while this island seemed to have sub-antarctic weather, as a result, Ichigo was beyond cold.

As Ichigo tried to take this sight in, he could feel a disturbance from behind him. It took him a moment to realize that something was behind him but he did not yet turn around. He could feel a breath on the back of his neck and heard a whispering voice speak the phrase, "The curse of the widow and fatherless light upon the man that breaks open this box, whilst he has a ship at his back."

Ichigo then turned around with a rather horrified expression, obviously not expecting the sudden voice but strangely enough, nobody was there. He noticed a very small, one room white cabin that he had just exited. Ichigo immediately forgot about the voice he had just heard as he examined this castaway depot more closely. Why was this cabin so small if it took him a good five minutes for him to find a way out?

He would have thought more on this topic had Ichigo not been interrupted by a sudden series of blood curdling screams sounding off to his left. Ichigo quickly turned and while nobody was around he did spot an odd looking bird standing on the left hand edge of the roof of the small hut. The bird appeared to be a seagull although there was an unexpected detail about the bird that caught Ichigo's attention. The bird appeared to be normal at first, but it actually had the body of an old clock. The wings, head, feet, and tail feathers were all normal but they were each attached to an old antique clock that made up the bird's torso. Ichigo tilted his head to make sure his eyes were not playing tricks against his mind but surely enough, the details of this bird did not change even though he was completely focusing in on it.

The bird then promptly flew off towards the sky and Ichigo watched this strange creature until he finally lost sight of it. Before Ichigo could even ask his own subconscious what that thing was, yet another voice spoke out from the opposite side of the castaway depot. "Hey you," the voice stated calmly in a female's tone.

Ichigo turned around to see if he could find the source of this voice and spotted a young woman no taller than he was, leaning against the wall on the far side of the old hut. This woman wore an all black outfit consistent of black pants which were tucked underneath a pair of tall black boots she had on. The woman wore a casual black jacket, and a black shirt which she wore underneath her jacket. She also wore a belt which was, as expected, black. The only thing this woman wore that was any color but black, would be a bright pearl bracelet around her right wrist.

The woman had shoulder length and rather shiny black hair. Her eyes were not exactly blue, but more of an entrancing shade of cyan. Another detail about this woman would be her bright and friendly smile. There was an almost serene look on her face that was only amplified by her never ending smile.

"Who are you," Ichigo asked flatly.

The woman lifted an eyebrow at him and crossed her arms. "My name is Eva," she informed. "Eva Yomasa. Do you want to tell me your name? _Oh_, and where exactly do you come from because I am usually the only person who visits this island." She spoke clearly and with a gentile and soothing tone of voice.

Ichigo glanced around for a moment in disorientation before making his reply. "You said this is an island? Where exactly am I?"

While Eva's smile did not completely leave her face, it did indeed fade only slightly as she was not pleased with his response. "Um, pardon," Eva questioned in a more firm manner which caused Ichigo to turn to her with a puzzled expression. Eva's smile then fully returned to her face and she shut her eyes in amusement. "I seem to recall you asking me for my name. I gave it to you and asked you what your name is. In return, you kept on with your generic questions while not having the common curtsy to give a sweet person like me your name. So, why don't we try again? My name is Eva Yomasa, what's yours?"

Ichigo was definitely taken aback by the rather aggressive reply. Eva was already giving off a more sweet and innocent vibe. With a shocked look in his eyes he nodded apologetically. "I'm sorry, my name is Ichigo. Ichigo Kurosaki and I'm from the town of Karakura in Japan, but you said you are the only one who visits this island. So, where are we?"

Eva's smile widened with approval upon hearing this. "Well hello there, Ichigo. This is just a small little island that I only visit on occasion but I'm sure you really wouldn't care to hear its name. Now that all of that is out of the way, I don't think I've ever seen you around so what exactly are you doing here, unless you don't know which is what seems to be the case."

"I don't know how I got here," Ichigo remarked. He then grabbed his forehead in a more confused manner as an odd realization suddenly came to his mind. "_Uh_... Am I dreaming or something?"

Eva tilted her head curiously and her smile shifted to more of a comical one. "Well, first I should probably inform you that it is never a good idea to ask someone if you're dreaming. Most of the time, a dream character will never be honest with you. That is something that has always captured my interest. After all, one would think a character in a dream would be completely constructed by the dreamer's subconscious and as a direct result, they would have to acknowledge and answer as the subconscious mind. However, while they do know that you would be dreaming, they will never tell you the truth because they don't want the dream to end. If the dream ends, they end. I would tend to think that this is some sort of survival technique which means that the characters in a dream are intelligent and do have free will."

Ichigo stared at Eva blankly for a moment. It would appear that she ran off into a tangent without actually answering his question. If what Eva was saying is true then she was illustrating that quite nicely by not telling Ichigo if he were actually dreaming or not. "Wait," Ichigo requested with a sigh. "That's interesting and everything, but you didn't answer my question. Am I dreaming?"

Eva pushed herself off of the wall and placed her hands behind her back. "If you really want to know, try pinching yourself."

Ichigo looked down and held out his right hand. He then brought up his left hand and pinched it. Ichigo felt no pain but as he moved his other hand out of the way he noticed he was bleeding in the area where he had previously pinched himself.

"What," Ichigo asked in horror and slowly looked up. He immediately jumped to see Eva standing right in front of him. "Ugh," he exclaimed. "How did you even get over here so quickly," he asked angrily.

Eva only covered her mouth and snickered to herself. Ichigo leaned away and lifted an eyebrow at the woman in black. She was starting to act slightly strange. That smile of hers was beginning to seem less adorable and was starting to feel a little more creepy.

"Who knows," Eva said with a shrug. "Maybe you are dreaming, but I'm not. I would like to see you again. Yes, I think I will see you again."

Ichigo really did not have much of a response to this. "What do you mean? If I am dreaming than how can you see me again?"

Eva examined Ichigo for a brief moment before reaching a conclusion. "You're not going to be here for long," she informed as she could clearly see his body beginning to fade from visibility. Ichigo of course, did not even notice this. "But I will ask you this. Even if you know you're dreaming now, how do you know if you'll truly wake up after this? How will you ever know if you're awake, or if you'll ever wake up again?"

"What," Ichigo asked, not exactly understanding nor fully comprehending the question Eva was asking him. His vision was now starting to blur and Eva became more and more of a fuzzy image just like the area that surrounded the two.

"Don't worry," Eva reassured. "I'll see you at around 11pm tonight so wait up for me," she called out before her voice too finally faded away.

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><p>Ichigo awoke and sat upright in a fright. He looked around frantically before realizing that he was indeed sitting on his normal bed. He was currently in his dark bedroom where virtually no light was currently shining in. Ichigo let out a loud groan and rolled his eyes, knowing now that everything that had happened previously was just a dream.<p>

He looked down to a side table near his bed to check the time on his alarm clock. For some strange reason, a reason Ichigo would never understand, he simply could not read the alarm clock. The neon numbers on the small screen were just too blurry to make out. He could see everything else in the room perfectly except for the time on the alarm clock. Ichigo then remembered something and adopted a curious expression. He scratched his head in confusion as he thought on this dream he had further. "She said she would see me at 11? Ugh, whatever, it's not like that's possible anyway. That was still a pretty creepy dream none of the less."

Even though Ichigo was wide awake at this point but he was still feeling just as numb as he felt when he was inside that dreamscape of his. However, Ichigo did not seem to notice this and instead he threw the blanket off of his legs and stood up off of the bed. He looked down and noticed a little stuffed lion lying on the floor near his bed. "Ugh," he sighed, remembering how much he hated Kon. For no reason whatsoever, Ichigo kicked the stuffed animal across the room. This caused Kon to shout in pain while Ichigo simply walked out of the room silently.

He opened the door, completely ignoring Kon's cursing and ranting and promptly shut the door behind himself. He scanned the dark hallway of the upstairs portion of his house before turning to the right where the usual staircase lied. There was a blue glow coming from the living room towards the bottom of the staircase. With nothing more to do at this time of night, Ichigo walked down the stairs to see what was going on.

He soon made it to the living room and noticed his father Isshin was sitting on the couch watching some sort of horror movie. Ichigo could clearly see this due to the large amount of gore on the screen and Isshin hiding himself behind a pillow and blanket. Ichigo rolled his eyes and silently approached Isshin.

Ichigo slowly raised his hand and tapped on Isshin's shoulder. This naturally caused the man to squeal and nearly jump out of his skin. Isshin turned but relaxed as he realized it was only Ichigo who was disturbing him.

"Oh, I thought you chickened out and went to bed," Isshin pouted and turned back to his movie. Isshin did try to convince Ichigo to watch this rather unappealing movie but as it stands; Ichigo was not interested and decided sleep would be a more enjoyable experience, and in a way it was.

"I did," Ichigo replied tiredly. "But I woke up." He then glanced to the hallway which would lead to the front door. Even though he knew that experience he had been through previously was a dream. Only a dream, but a dream none of the less. However, he still could not shake the feeling that he had not seen the last of that strange woman from the otherwise fake world.

"I think I'm going to take a walk," Ichigo finally announced. Isshin turned and gave him a curious look.

"What at this hour?"

"Yeah," Ichigo yawned. "I'll be back later." With that said Ichigo walked off towards the hall, leaving Isshin to return to his movie.

He headed for the door and eventually reached it. He unlocked it and grabbed the doorknob before pushing it open. Ichigo stepped outside into a chilly night before shutting the door. He made certain that it was closed tightly before setting out on a pointless walk. He arrived to a lonely and broken down sidewalk that has obviously not been well kept by the city.

"A dream," he told himself, not exactly being consciously aware that he was even speaking to begin with. "Only a dream, but a dream." He repeated this phrase about four times. To anyone passing by, he would seem like a heretic preforming an old pagan ritual. Fortunately, there was not a soul in sight, not even any nearby traffic. Ichigo silently continued the stroll alone and headed for downtown just to pass some time.

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><p>Ichigo would soon arrive at a small restaurant and decided to take a seat there. He went to the outdoor balcony area and sat at one of the vacant tables. Not too many people were around but at least he could see cars going up and down the street as apposed to the ghost town that was his neighborhood.<p>

He sat there alone at the table and waited for the drink he ordered to arrive. He had been sitting there for around 10 minutes or so, halfway waiting for someone who most likely, does not even exist to begin with. Ichigo still felt that he should probably wait out in the open for this Eva person to find him, although he already knew she was only a figment of his imagination.

"Yeah," he thought to himself. "I knew she wouldn't come. It's not like she could anyway seeing as how she isn't real." Ichigo sat back in his seat and looked up to the dark sky above. No stars were visible do to a large number of clouds which were only assisted in blocking the view of the stars by the large amount of neon lights in the area.

As Ichigo sat alone, someone approached him from behind. This person was actually less than a person as it was nothing more than a skeleton. The skeleton walked up to Ichigo, wearing a waitress's outfit and carried a coffee mug in hand. The skeleton came to a stop at Ichigo's table.

Ichigo himself was not really interested in the dead person standing beside him as he looked down to the table with a rather disappointed expression. The skeleton did not disturb Ichigo but instead carefully placed the coffee mug on the table. Ichigo glanced to the mug before swiftly returning his attention to the table. The skeleton then silently walked off while Ichigo did not notice anything out of the ordinary.

After a few short minutes, Ichigo came too and realized his beverage had arrived. He grabbed the mug and took a sip of the coffee, only to find that his coffee was cold. Ichigo shrugged and placed the mug back on the table. However, as soon as he did, he felt a hand gently grasp his shoulder. Ichigo slightly jumped and turned to the left to see who was disturbing him.

He then noticed a young woman with familiar cyan eyes and black hair standing next to him with a shady smile on her face. "Oh, here you are," Eva announced. "I suppose this means you weren't dreaming."

Ichigo only stared blankly at her, definitely shocked that she was in fact real. "I'm sorry I'm so late," Eva stated and walked over to the chair opposite of Ichigo before taking a seat. "It took me awhile to find you but at least I'm here now," she said optimistically.

Eva then sighed and stood up before Ichigo could even collect himself enough to formulate a response. "Oh well, it's getting late so I won't bother you anymore tonight. I'll see you around though, so keep an eye out." With that Eva began walking off but Ichigo stood up rather abruptly which caused her to stop in her tracks. It seemed that he was finally beginning to become more responsive to this odd environment around him.

"Hey wait," he pleaded. "Can you tell me what's going on? I saw a skeleton back in that old shack on that island where we first met. I can't figure out what all of this is suppose to mean."

Eva looked over her shoulder and shoved her hands in her coat pockets in a more relaxed manner. "Did you ever stop to think," Eva asked. "That maybe it's not suppose to make sense?" Eva then walked off, leaving Ichigo alone in this incomprehensible situation. That is, if it can even be considered a situation at all.


	2. Vasto and White

**Vasto and White**

In the depths of Ichigo's mind, on a sideways skyscraper in the middle of a large sideways city were several entities going about their daily business. The first two, the only two Ichigo was aware of would be a more insipid entity that looks almost identical to him. The other would be the self explanatory Zangetsu. Both of which were completely useless at this point.

They both sat on the wall of the skyscraper, not able to even so much as move for the most part. The only thing they could do was sit back and scold the world around them in a rather sour manner. The hollow averted his golden eyes to the right as he noticed movement in one of the windows of the building next to the one they were currently sitting on.

"Hey," the hollow whispered. "Who else is here? Are we the only ones around," the demon questioned. He had seen movement ever since he lost most of his power. The creature obviously could not go and seek out these disturbances due to his weakened state.

"What are you going on about, now," Zangetsu questioned without emotion. "Since when has anyone other than us resided in this world?"

"Well, I keep seeing these shadows moving in the distance," the hollow informed in a slightly nervous tone. "I've been seeing crap moving around in those windows over there," he stated. The hollow then struggled to lift his hand but eventually succeeded and pointed to the building just to the right and above them.

"Nobody else is here," Zangetsu groaned. "Now quite down. Leave me in peace."

Zangetsu could not be more incorrect in his assumption. There were indeed two more entities lurking in this sideways world. Two creatures, even more monstrous than the hollow sitting next to Zangetsu. Indeed, in the same building where the hollow had spotted movement, two creatures made this place their home.

In an old hallway that was only collecting dust, these two hollowfied entities plotted on what they were going to do. Ironically, they had no idea what they wished to do. The first hollow was standing in the middle of the hall. He had bright orange hair just like Ichigo, but the hollow's hair was much longer. The hollow had an odd red and white mask along with two horns coming out of the crown of his head. This hollow wore the same black robes that Ichigo normally did as well and his name is Vasto. Or at least, that was what he was now calling himself.

Vasto was very talkative for a hollow. He would rant and rave no matter what the subject was. He always seemed to have something to say. This might be halfway due to the fact that his counterpart, the hollow sitting on the ground in front of him, has never said a word since Vasto was first created. Just like any other being in existence, it was not totally clear how Vasto was created but one thing was clear, the hollow in front of Vasto has been around far longer.

The other hollow looked very similar to Vasto. He had the same long hair except his hair was solid white rather than orange. The hollow wore black armor that covered most of his body and unlike Vasto, the hollow had two swords substituting as forearms. This hollow's name is White.

White is actually a very ironic name considering the only white on this hollow was his hair and mask. There was also a white orb of energy floating around in White's chest. White was very much the opposite of Vasto in every respect. Where Vasto had something to say, all White would do is groan, howl, or growl. Sometimes White would just break something to get his point across. Surprisingly, Vasto was able to begin understanding what White was saying even though all the hollow would do for communication is scream at the top of his lungs. Vasto was still some how able to understand everything White was saying.

Even though Vasto and White were very different personality wise, they were always able to get along. This might be due to the fact that they bare a strong resemblance to each other. That and Vasto seemed to act like a spokesman for White. Vasto and White never made themselves known to anyone other than themselves as well. Vasto was rather paranoid and this ended up leading to them isolating themselves.

As the two continued their conversation, or well, Vasto spoke to White but White simply did not respond; Vasto was kicking a ball up in the air, over and over again. "Alright," Vasto began while he watched the ball fall back to the earth before he kicked it upwards again.

"Let's go over this again. We know there is another world out their and I'm pretty sure I have a way for us to get there." Vasto's rant was cut off as White abruptly let out a snort. Vasto kicked the ball in the air once more before responding.

"I was just about to explain that," Vasto informed. "Now, the reason we need to go to this place is to find a kick ass object that's hidden away there. From what I've heard, its called Cobalt and nobody knows what it is exactly. All we know is that this thing can manifest all sorts of crazy shit. It can do anything."

White gave a series of curious grunts. Vasto nodded, understanding everything that was just said. White watched as the ball went up into the air. Vasto did something odd this time, instead of kicking the ball he tried to headbutt it. Of course, his sharp horns only impaled the ball, causing it to deflate on his head.

"Damn," Vasto sighed and lowered his head. He then grabbed the now useless volleyball and threw it to the ground. "I should have seen that coming. But as you were saying... You're right, it is kind of like the Hōgyoku or whatever that thing was that Aizen was screwing around with. However," Vasto sighed as something suddenly came to mind.

"The fact still remains that I have no clue what the fuck this thing is. All I know is that its cool and I want it! Isn't that enough motivation to go and get this stupid thing. I mean think about it! You and me will be the first people to possess this thing. It could be some awesome object like the Hōgyoku!"

White tilted his horned head and hissed as if he were some sort of demonic snake. This hiss was not very well received by Vasto since it was most likely a criticism of some sort. Or that is how Vasto took it anyway.

"Don't worry," Vasto said in a more calming manner. "How bad could it be to begin with? If people are talking about a mysterious object that has great value, I think I'd be out looking for it too. Don't you agree?"

White snorted and lifted his right hand sword curiously at this.

"Well," Vasto replied, this time producing a slightly irritated tone. "If you're right and it does turn out that Cobalt is just some cheesy ass personification of love or willpower then will just kill every last person we see. But I honestly doubt that's the case."

White gave a more cynical growl in response. This was usually the case with White. He was more or less a very pessimistic little hollow. While Vasto always had his hopes up, White would challenge every idea that Vasto would create.

"Look White," Vasto argued and pointed accusingly to his comrade. "You've gotta believe, man! This is the chance to finally get out of this disgusting excuse for an inner world and explore places far beyond our horizons and in turn, find this thing that could lead us to anything we may desire. We just have to figure out what we're going to do with Cobalt once we find it. Of course, that will be after we figure out what it is in the first place."

With nothing left to say, White simply stood up. He had already agreed to going on this mission with Vasto since there was literally nothing else he could do to pass the time, but he still wanted to clear up a few details. White growled at Vasto who in turn gave a confirming nod and took a few steps backwards.

"I don't really know," Vasto admitted truthfully. "Although I'm still going to try to convince Ichigo to come along with us. Now, I know what you might be thinking," Vasto began and raised a hand to calm White who was beginning to growl in a more threatening manner. "But I don't see why the kid wouldn't come with us? If we find Cobalt he might be able to use it to get his powers back, or end world hunger, or whatever dumb shit he wants to do with it."

Another grunt came from White's direction and Vasto shrugged.

"Yeah," he agreed. "I already know a way out of this place. So unless there's anything else we need to go over. We should probably leave here pretty quickly."

* * *

><p>Ichigo was walking through an alleyway for no apparent reason other than Kon leading him here. Kon kept jumping up and down excitedly as he moved ahead of his master. Ichigo on the other hand was tired and slightly irritable. Kon suddenly noticed that Ichigo was falling behind so he stopped and quickly turned around.<p>

"Are you coming or not," asked Kon. Ichigo simply rolled his eyes and moved on. Kon then turned back around and led Ichigo towards a side alley which was positioned in between two buildings on the right. Kon twirled to the right and marched off. Ichigo soon arrived to the entrance of the alley and noticed how dark it was. This was beginning to seem slightly suspicious to him. He would have abruptly walked off and left Kon behind but he stopped himself immediately after he noticed a familiar young woman dressed in black, standing in the middle of the alley.

"Ichigo," Eva called out and waved to him with a welcoming yet, still a slightly unsettling smile. Ichigo shoved his hands in his pockets and walked over to her. Kon abruptly lunged for Eva in the same manner he would do to Rukia. Kon attached himself to Eva's boot like a leech.

"I brought him here like you asked," Kon announced, still not releasing Eva from his grip. Eva looked down and leaned over. She then calmly plucked Kon off of her leg and held him up in the air.

"Thank you," she replied kindly. "Now, can you do me one more favor?"

"Anything," Kon assured. Ichigo lifted an eyebrow at Kon in the background.

"I thought you said the only woman you would ever speak to again is Rukia," Ichigo reminded.

Kon turned around slight, almost forgetting that Ichigo was even here. "Who's Rukia," he asked in a daze, not exactly remembering who this person is.

"Kon," Eva asked sweetly to regain the mod soul's attention. Kon turned to her as expect and she continued with her request. "If you would be so kind as to wait over there for us," she asked and pointed to the alley he and Ichigo had previously taken to get here. "Then I would greatly appreciate it," Eva concluded.

Without so much as an argument being made from the stuffed lion, Kon leaped out of Eva's grasp and fell to the ground. He then ran straight past Ichigo and out of sight to stand like a sentry in the exact spot Eva had pointed to.

"So," Eva began cheerfully as she shifted her eyes to Ichigo. "How have you been? I haven't visited you for a day or so? Still think you're dreaming?"

"I know I'm not dreaming today," Ichigo admitted. "Why do you keep following me around? Who are you?"

"I already told you my name," Eva reminded. "And I'm only following you around because I might be slightly curious about you. After all, I usually don't see people roaming around at my favorite island to visit seeing as how it has a population of zero. Although, I think I already told you that as well."

Ichigo then began remembering their first conversation on this unknown island. He reminded himself of Eva telling him her name, Ichigo telling her his name, and that the island was pretty much abandoned or at least according to Eva it was. Although, Ichigo was quickly beginning to become suspicious of this woman seeing as how she looked to be slightly dishonest.

He narrowed his eyes at her curiously at the woman in black and waited for her to continue. However, she simply stood their quietly, staring right back at him as if anticipating the same thing. Ichigo then sighed and figured he had a few questions to ask before he were to turn back and leave this alley behind.

"Alright," Ichigo finally responded. "What's the point of you making that freak take me here? Do you need something?"

"I was wondering if you had plans to return to that place," Eva informed. "You came to my... _locale_, so would you like to return? I'm sure this place is boring for you. Wouldn't you like a change of scenery?"

Ichigo adopted a more confused expression and stared at Eva blankly. "What place are you talking about? Do you mean that island? That place was cold has hell. I'm pretty sure it was in a sub-antarctic region. Why would I want to go there?"

"Well, it is a sub-antarctic island," Eva admitted. "But I actually wasn't talking about the island. You know, this place you live in now is not really that great," she said and looked around to her surroundings with a slightly less pleasant smile. "You might actually like my world if it doesn't drive you insane, that is."

"What sort of place are you talking about," asked Ichigo. "You say another world and since I've never heard of you before. That and how we met in such an odd scenario, I'm guessing I've never heard of this place before."

Eva seemed to hear everything he was asking but she did not seem to be very interested in addressing any of this. Her smile became brighter and she shut her eyes cheerfully. "So, are you coming or not?"

Ichigo blinked at Eva in shock, surely she heard what he had previously said even though she was ignoring it. Ichigo shook his head in response. "What? No. I'm not going anywhere unless I know where it is and if I can get back home from there or not. If you would just give me some more details about this place you keep talking about..."

"Well then," Eva interrupted as her smile abruptly faded. She then placed her hands in her coat pockets and backed away. "I suppose you've missed your chance to go to a more worthwhile world. Oh well, I can't make you go. Goodbye Ichigo, it was nice to meet you anyway." With that, Eva turned around and walked off.

Ichigo was left there in the alley, completely shocked that Eva would up and leave, taking back her invitation to this other world and not even so much as answering his core questions. He then shrugged the encounter off, realizing that he would probably not see her again and decided to take his leave in the opposite direction.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Vasto and White had successfully removed themselves from Ichigo's inner world and were now hiding behind a trashcan in an alleyway far from the one where Ichigo currently was. They were hiding due to the fact that an average Shinigami grunt was leaning against the wall of a building at the entrance of the alley, keeping an eye out for any sort of hollowfied being. White was becoming increasingly annoyed with this. The woman in the in the Shinigami outfit was simply not moving. White finally snorted quietly and Vasto responded with a nod.<p>

"I agree," Vasto whispered. "That idiot isn't going anywhere but we need to take this rout to get to our destination. Ugh, just go ahead and kill her but please don't attract any of her friends over to us. I'd like to get out of this place without having to blow _too_ many people up."

That was all White needed to hear. He immediately flickered out of sight and reappeared right in front of the unsuspecting reaper. The woman flinched as she noticed the strange horned hollow appearing in front of her but did not have time to react before she felt a sword cut through her stomach. White then removed his left sword from her torso and allowed her to fall to the ground where she proceeded to bleed to death.

"Great," Vasto called out from behind which caused White to turn to him. Vasto stepped out from hiding and headed over to his comrade. "Now, where the hell do we go from here," Vasto asked and White lowered his head to face the ground in a pondering manner. Vasto quickly looked around to make sure nobody was around.

"Look, we need to hurry," Vasto informed. "You know this place better than I do, so where can we go that we know Ichigo will be able to locate us at." White continued to think on this while Vasto spoke to him before he suddenly looked up to face Vasto.

White let out a low growl but Vasto simply shook his head.

"No," he argued. "We're not going to Ichigo's house. Granted, that would be the first place we should go if we want to find him but you already know as well as I do that Isshin is there. I'm pretty sure he won't take to kindly to you and I'm also about 90% certain that if we do go to his house, you'll just end up killing everyone. We need to find a place that is familiar to Ichigo but not a place that would be directly hostile to us. After all, _we come in peace_."

White then growled yet again but just like before, Vasto simply did not like what White was suggesting.

"I don't know if the guy in the hat will be able to help us," Vasto admitted, knowing that White was referring to Urahara. "Honestly, I don't know if that old man would be _willing_ to help us. We need someone who's too weak to fight back and will have to lead Ichigo to us, or someone who will just flat out work with us, no questions asked."

White snorted in a more aggressive manner to Vasto's reply.

"I know, White," Vasto responded. "I'm not saying we couldn't eat Isshin or Urahara for breakfast, because we could. I'm saying that if we are going to get Ichigo on our side, we probably shouldn't kill his fucking father and massacre his friends with extreme prejudice. Now, if it comes to that and Ichigo decides to be a douche and fight us then yeah, we'll kill everyone in sight; but for now, let's just try to be diplomatic."

White lowered his head yet again and tried to think back to the last time he was free from Ichigo's mind, or at least, when he had control over Ichigo. While Ichigo's inner hollow did have some role in the fight with Ulquiorra, White was the monster that ended up doing all of the work. White thought back to this moment specifically and remembered two other people that appeared to be friendly towards Ichigo. One of them being a young woman and the other being a Quincy with glasses.

White snorted to Vasto who in turn shrugged his shoulders.

"The Quincy might be a risk because he could end up fighting us and then we'd have to deep fry the bastard," Vasto reminded. "But that chick would probably be a good start since you said she seemed pretty helpless; so why don't we head over to her place and see what where we can go from there?"

White grunted, although this time he seemed to be asking an important question rather than complaining or arguing with his partner.

"How should I know where she is," Vasto inquired. "Can't you sniff her out? This town isn't very big, it wouldn't take too long for us to find one person if we get started now. Do you remember her scent?" White nodded and allowed Vasto to continue. "Alright good," he complemented. "Then we'll head off and see if we can't find a trail for you to follow."

White nodded once more, signaling that he agreed with Vasto's plan and the two abruptly disappeared to go and locate this young woman named Orihime. The two would end up searching or around an hour until White could find a trail and then it would only be another half our before they were able to locate their target.

* * *

><p>The horned duo would soon reappear in front of an average looking house in an average looking neighborhood. "Oh my God," Vasto whined loudly. "We must have passed over this place twelve times. Damn, why does every building look the same?"<p>

White growled at him and walked past Vasto, heading straight for the front door without wishing to waste anymore time than they already have. Vasto watched as White headed up the small case of stairs that would lead him to Orihime's front door. Vasto then abruptly thought of something and abruptly slammed his head into his palm.

"White," he sighed which caused the ironically named hollow to turn to Vasto curiously. "I just realized something," Vasto announced. "We just spent all of this time searching for this stupid ass girl who would be able to call Ichigo for us. But if you could just sniff her out then why didn't we search for Ichigo directly? We would have found him by now!"

White screeched harshly at Vasto, clearly pinning the blame on him. Vasto nodded understandably, knowing this whole thing was a result of him not planning everything through in a more reasonable manner.

"I know it's my fault," Vasto admitted. "Now, let's get this over with."

* * *

><p>Orihime sat in her living room. She placed a tray of cookies out on her coffee table and stood upright to admire them. "Great," she thought to herself. "Now, I can take them to Urahara's Shop and invite everyone over. I'm sure they'll like the cookies I made."<p>

She would have continued on her train of thought but she heard a knock at the door which caused her to jump ever so slightly. "Oh, coming," she called out and walked out of the living room. Orihime walked through the hall and stopped at the door. She forgot to look through the peep hole and simply unlocked the door and opened it up.

Orihime abruptly fell backwards and let out a shocked yelp to see two horned hollows standing at her door. She sat there on the floor paralyzed while the two hollows stepped inside.

"Hello," the first one greeted. This hollow looking very familiar to Orihime. "You probably remember us," he continued. "My name is Vasto and this is my friend White." Vasto would have gone on with the introduction he planned to give but stopped as he looked towards his comrade to see the other horned demon sniffing the air in a puzzled manner.

"You smell something, White," Vasto asked but White did not respond. Instead, White walked past both Vasto and Orihime. He then proceeded straight for the living room. Knowing that White was probably just off doing whatever it is that White usually does, Vasto looked down to Orihime. "Stand up," he ordered. "We're not hear to rip your head off or anything like that. We just need you to call someone for us."

"Um," Orihime began nervously. "B-b-but... I-I," she stuttered. This only helped to annoy Vasto. The hollow let out a loud yawn to interrupt her stuttering.

"Call your friend Ichigo for us and tell him to meet us somewhere or else we will have a problem."

At this point, Orihime understood the station and nodded. She then gulped and stood up. "O-okay," she said apprehensively. "Then come to the living room and I'll call him for you." With that the two both followed in White's footsteps and walked into the living room.

Orihime came to a dead stop as she saw White standing in front of her cookie tray. She watched as the hollow aimed his right and sword at one of the cookies. The hollow then impaled the cookie and lifted it to his mouth as if his sword were a fork. White then proceeded to eat the cookie.

"Um," Orihime announced fearfully. "I actually made those for my friends."

"That's cool," Vasto remarked. "But my friend here is really hungry so either he eats the cookies or he eats _you_."

"Th-that's fine," Orihime quivered. "You can help yourself then... I'll just call Ichigo now."

"I don't have all day," Vasto muttered harshly. Vasto was already annoyed, but at least he would soon get what he and White desired.


	3. A Better Place

_Note: To a previous reviewer. I'll leave the response here since I was unable to send you a PM. I'm not sure what you mean by the dialogue being out of place? I looked over some of Vasto's lines, but I do not see what you are referring to. I know I've made the characters sound like they're very detached from the events happening around them, but that is all to help present the mood of __Cobalt__. Also, don't worry Eva will return after a couple chapters, I did not 'kill her off.' However, I will say that if you are expecting Eva to be a large part of the story then you might be disappointed. Unlike __War Child__, this story does not revolve around her. In fact, other than being Ichigo's guide throughout his search for __Cobalt__, she really has no other use besides adding to the atmosphere. Oh, and I'm not sure how I would give White dialog since he can't talk in the actual series._

_Another thing, those of you who have checked the tags will notice that I removed Ulquiorra's name from the list of major characters. This is because I have decided to cut his role out completely. He simply does not belong in this story, and I wanted to place someone else in this story to add variety. After all, Ulquiorra has been in the last two stories, he can afford to skip out on this one._

* * *

><p><span><strong>A Better Place<strong>

Vasto and White would have no trouble at all with Orihime. She called Ichigo for them and told him to meet this duo of monstrosities in a graveyard on the other side of the city. While Vasto did not even notice how peculiar the idea of meeting in a graveyard was, White was highly suspicious. He kept checking over their shoulders as the two continued their little journey. Then again, why would he not, going to a graveyard in a deserted portion of town was not exactly the most welcoming thought. As a result, White could almost smell a trap.

The two were now currently on their way to this location while keeping an eye out for any unwanted interlopers in the process.

"It shouldn't be too much further, White," Vasto called out as the two made their way through an almost abandoned intersection. They took a right at this intersection and headed down the empty road. To the right of this road was the river the town surrounded. Just behind Vasto and White were the two bridges leading across the river.

White remained quiet, not really too concerned with arriving on time since there was really no time limit, and it was not like this trip has been too terribly annoying. Vasto would be correct in saying they were close to their destination since the gate to the actual graveyard was just a few meters ahead of their current position.

The two casually walked up to the gate without communicating, but as Vasto reached for gate to push it open, White hissed at him. Vasto shifted his hand away from the wooden gate, and turned to his horned comrade.

"What," Vasto asked in a surprised tone. "I don't think that girl was smart enough to set up some sort of trap. She seemed pretty stupid to me."

White growled at Vasto harshly in an attempt to reinforce his inaudible argument.

"Alright, fine," Vasto snapped. "If you're so sure we're on the verge of being ambushed then I'll take a quick peak. If I see anyone other than Ichigo roaming around in there then we'll bail on this operation and go to his house directly. If not, then I was right all along and will therefore have eternal bragging rights," he exclaimed as if this was some sort of amazingly diabolical achievement. White on the other hand, remained unconvinced.

White growled once more but Vasto seemed to be pretty dead set on his plan.

"I don't care if Isshin is there," Vasto retorted. "If we see him I'm sure we can find a way to either keep out of sight or hide. If all else fails then you can kill him, and we'll dump his body in the river before Ichigo finds out."

Vasto then turned back to the gate and only slightly pushed it open. He peaked around the corner to see if anyone other than Ichigo was waiting for them. Sure enough, White was correct in his assumptions. There were actually two people in the graveyard. One Vasto recognized as Uryū, and the other was Chad.

"That bitch," Vasto hissed as he moved away from the gate and looked over to White. White responded with a confident grunt, boasting about him being right but Vasto completely ignored this bragging.

"Alright, time for plan B," Vasto informed. "Let's go back to Ichigo's house. I don't care if it's risky! If he gives us any trouble then feel free to bite his head off. I know you've been longing to do that for awhile now anyway."

* * *

><p>While Vasto and White were busy plotting a way to find Ichigo. The orange haired lad in question was walking through an alley while Kon sat on his shoulder, arguing with him over trivial topics that Ichigo was obviously not too interested in seeing as how he was not listening.<p>

"I can't believe you," Kon exclaimed. "That woman was so in love with me that she invited me to her home but you said no! I hate you and I'm going to murder you in your sleep," Kon screamed at the top of his lungs.

At this point, Ichigo was clearly annoyed. He demonstrated this by plucking Kon off his shoulder and holding him up in the air for examination. "What are you talking about," he questioned in slight confusion. "Eva didn't even invite you. She invited me. She was only speaking to you earlier to find me in the first place."

"Don't you dare talk about her like that," Kon snapped. "You don't know what you're talking about!"

"Just get over it," Ichigo ordered dismissively. "Go back to stalking Orihime or something."

"Orihime can go to Hell," Kon shouted. "Eva is my one and only now!"

Ichigo clenched his hand into his fist while simultaneous releasing Kon who promptly fell to the ground. "Then why don't you go with her," he proposed. "It's only been about 15 minutes. I doubt she's completely left yet."

"Maybe I will," Kon argued and stood up to scold Ichigo.

"I'm begging you to leave," Ichigo informed. "She went that way," he stated and pointed directly behind himself. "I have faith that you can still catch up to her." To anyone other than Kon, it was obvious that Ichigo knew Kon would never succeed in this plan.

"You think so," Kon asked hopefully and Ichigo nodded in a dishonest manner. Although, he was lying pretty well since Kon did not expect a thing.

"Absolutely," Ichigo lied with confidence. "Just go after her and I'm sure she'll take you to that world she kept talking about. After all, she did hunt you down, even if it was only to speak to me but I think she could use some company."

Kon was now completely sold on this idea. He wasted no time and without rationally thinking this out, Kon simply ran off after Eva. Ichigo grinned sadistically as he watched Kon scramble away. He could not help but find amusement in this action.

Either one of three things would happen in this scenario. The first being Eva was already too far ahead and Kon would not be able to catch up to her. The second possibility is that Kon will catch up to Eva, but he will succeed in finding some way to annoy her which would only lead to Eva brutally killing Kon. Then there was the possibility that Kon would try to pursue Eva but end up being attacked and carried off by some stray dog.

* * *

><p>It would not be long at all before Vasto and White made their way to Ichigo's house. They have already appeared to have made themselves at home on the sofa. Or rather, Vasto was sitting on the sofa, enjoying the television, and White was in the kitchen. White already ate a large majority of the food in Ichigo's house in under twenty minutes. At the moment, he was finally stepping out of the kitchen with a bowl of noodles.<p>

While balancing the bowl on his two swords, White walked up to Vasto and gestured for him to take the bowl. White then let out a low grumble to inform Vasto that he had made something for his comrade to eat before the long trip across worlds.

Vasto looked towards White and leaned away from the bowl. "I'm not going to eat that," he exclaimed which caused White to hiss rather violently at him.

"No really," Vasto replied. "Every time eat your cooking I get sick with some kind of horrible parasite! Don't you remember the last time you tried to make popcorn? I don't know how you did it, but you managed to place some sort of evil worm that liquified my intestines!"

White grunted in a pouting manner and dropped the bowl in Vasto's lap.

"It was terrible," Vasto shouted. "I almost died! My intestines were liquifying! I literally vomited my own organs that night!"

White snorted just to make an argument out of the situation, even though Vasto was correct. White was simply not a very good cook. In fact, Vasto would be living proof of the statement that White can kill someone without even trying.

"No White," Vasto retorted. "Popcorn doesn't contain any sort of parasite. It's not the same as raw pork! If you under cook popcorn, do you know what happens?" Vasto waited for a response but White remained quiet, allowing Vasto to continue his statement. "The popcorn doesn't pop," Vasto concluded. "It won't be popcorn, it would just be regular corn!"

White growled at Vasto and aimed his right sword towards the bowl. He simply was not giving up on the idea of forcing Vasto to try this. Even though White has successfully destroyed about every microwave dish one could imagine, how hard would preparing a bowl of noodles be?

"Alright, fine," Vasto groaned and grabbed the bowl rather aggressively. "I will try this horrid food of yours."

Vasto then grabbed the chop sticks inside the bowl. While he began the process of fishing out some of the noodles to taste, Vasto kept wondering how White was even able to make this when he does not have hands. Then again, White can do a lot of things that one would consider impossible for someone to preform without hands.

He then brought the chopsticks up to his mouth and took a bite of the soup White prepared for him. White remained perfectly still while Vasto critically analyzed this meal. "Hey," he finally stated and looked to the noodles in admiration. "These aren't making me sick. I'm surprised. They're not that bad either."

White grunted confidently before marching back off towards the kitchen. He returned not a moment later, and sat down next to Vasto who was still eating his meal. The two watched the television for a brief moment while they awaited Ichigo's return from wherever he is at the moment. White was currently wondering if perhaps that girl they met earlier ended up warning Ichigo about he and Vasto searching for them. It is not like it mattered at this point. If need be, White would simply go out and track him down.

"Hey," Vasto began for the sake of making at least some halfway interesting conversation took keep themselves occupied since there was nothing on the television that seemed to capture their interest enough to pay attention to the screen.

"Do you know who I saw today," Vasto questioned. White snorted and shrugged his shoulders to indicate he had no clue while at the same time, allowing Vasto to inform him of such.

"While we were walking to the graveyard," Vasto explained. "I saw that weird Shinigami chick. You know, the one with the black hair that kind of makes her look almost like she's wearing a giant onion on her head?"

White growled at Vasto, only halfway interested in this.

"Why the hell would I say hi," asked Vasto. "Those Shinigami are so one sided. She would probably have attacked me if she saw me. Then I would have to gouge her eyes out," he explained in a tiresome tone. "Then Ichigo would get mad at us which means we would have to hit him over the head so he would get amnesia. Then we would have to throw her body into the river and kill Isshin for the hell of it. That whole thing would spiral into one huge chore. A chore that I don't want to do. Besides, we have priorities, White. Just keep your eyes... or well," Vasto corrected himself after he remembered that both he and White did not actually have eyes. "Keep your mind on the prize."

Before either of the two could say anything regarding their little search for this mysterious object known as Cobalt, they heard the front door open. "Is that Ichigo," asked Vasto as he leaned forward and looked towards the hallway where the front door was positioned.

Surely enough, he spotted a streak of orange walk from the door to the kitchen. "Finally," Vasto sighed and leaned back on the couch, waiting for Ichigo to come and find them. "Alright," he began quietly. "Don't do anything intimidating. When he gets in here just let me do the talking. So no howling or screeching until later."

Ichigo soon walked past the kitchen and headed into the dining room casually. It was only when he stepped into the living room did he come to a dead halt as he noticed two horned hollows sitting on his couch, staring at him. He could not help but notice that both of these hollows looked very familiar but he already knew neither of them were related to his inner hollow. They definitely looked almost nothing like him.

Ichigo jumped and fell backwards into a sitting position while Vasto stood up, spilling the bowl of noodles on the floor as he did so. "Calm down," Vasto requested. "Before you go insane just hear us out."

"What are you talking about!? Who are you!?"

Vasto gestured for Ichigo to calm down but this only worked slightly. "We're not here to eat you or anything like you would assume," Vasto informed. "We're actually here because we need your help, and if you help us, you might just get your powers back. Now, how does that sound?"

"Who are you," Ichigo repeated.

Vasto realized he would need to address this minor question if he was to make any progress, and making progress sometime this year would be preferable. "My name is Vasto and this is my friend White," he informed casually. "Now, will you listen to us?"

"Alright," Ichigo breathed and stood up. He seemed to be calming down now that he knew these two oddballs would not be attacking him. Now that his powers were leaving him, Ichigo was becoming increasingly nervous around encounters such as these, regardless of how rare they might tend to be. "What do you need to say?"

Vasto took in a deep breath, satisfied to see everything was going smoothly for he and White at the moment. "I can tell you more about us on the road," Vasto began. "But right now, I'll just tell you about our plan. White and I have discovered another world. Something completely different from the places you've been. Now, this world has something in it that we're searching for. This thing is called Cobalt, or at least that's what we've heard anyway."

Ichigo crossed his arms as he listened to Vasto's explanation. He waited to hear what all of this had to do with regaining his old abilities long lost.

"We don't know exactly what Cobalt is but we do have an idea as to what it could be. We think it might be some form of uh... _something_. Look," Vasto exclaimed, realizing that his ignorance about the one thing they were looking for was not helping him plead his case to Ichigo too well. "We know Cobalt is valuable and we think it might be able to do... things."

Ichigo lifted an unamused eyebrow at them. He would have kicked them out already had Vasto not have mentioned this other world. This must be the same world Eva was talking about. Perhaps Eva could shed some light on this topic known as Cobalt since Vasto clearly had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.

"So, you have no idea what this thing is, but you want it regardless? Now, explain to me two things and I just might come with you depending on your answers." As it stands, Ichigo has been regretting the fact that he denied the invitation Eva extended to him about coming to her 'home.' Why did he not want to go to this new place? Surely he would find a way back to boring old Karakura after he was done with his adventure. It goes without saying that ever since his abilities were lost, Ichigo has longed for one more journey. And this was the perfect opportunity.

"Okay, go for it," Vasto replied with growing confidence.

"One," Ichigo lifted with his index in the air. "What do you plan on doing with Cobalt once you find it? And two," Ichigo stated while aiming his middle finger in the sky. "How do you even plan on getting to this other world?"

"We were able to get into contact with someone who lives there. That person is waiting for us on the other side of town right now. He's agreed to take us there today. So, are you coming with us, or are you just going to waste away here and miss out on locating the fabled Cobalt?"

Ichigo gave this decision a good moment of contemplation. If he was to go, he would be able to see an entirely new world and have a chance of gaining his powers back. He really did not see a drawback to going since Vasto and White seemed like they were telling the truth. That or they were simply saying everything they knew, but they were sincere in their own ignorance of the situation. Not only this, but he already knew someone who lived in this mysterious world. He could always hunt down Eva and ask her for help. He also assumed she would know a way from her world to Ichigo's since she was traveling between them today.

"Alright," Ichigo finally broke down. The decision has been made. "But before we go. I need to let someone know that I'll be leaving for awhile."

"Leave a note," Vasto replied sternly. "We don't have a lot of time."

Ichigo narrowed his eyes at Vasto, half tempted to ignore this order but then again, he really did not want to destroy this opportunity once again. He simply complied and walked back into the kitchen to find something to write with and something to write on.

"Oh, and grab a jacket," Vasto called out. "It's pretty cold from what I've heard!"

While Ichigo was busy with that, Vasto and White remained in the living room. "Well, that was easier than I expected," Vasto informed. "I halfway expected he wouldn't even come. Oh well, the kid must be desperate."

White remained quiet, he was currently on guard because he could smell Uryū in the area. Eventually, White knew he had to inform Vasto about this. White leaned in towards Vasto and gave a quiet series of short grunts which of course, only Vasto could really comprehend.

"Really," Vasto murmured and White nodded. "Alright, I'll deal with the Quincy. Do you remember where we were suppose to meet that person at?" White nodded once more.

"Good," Vasto complemented. "Now, lead Ichigo out the backdoor and straight for that meeting place. I'll go get that four eyed bastard in no time and meet you both there shortly." With that said, Vasto flickered out of sight.

* * *

><p>Vasto reappeared in the street just in front of Ichigo's house. Surprisingly, even though Vasto knew Uryū was in the area, he was surprised to see the Quince standing a few yards away from him, as if waiting for Vasto to come out. Vasto could easily tell that Uryū was holding something due to his arm being outstretched over a metal rod which was stuck in the ground.<p>

Uryū stared at Vasto with a slightly startled expression. It was the same monster he had seen when Ichigo was quarreling with Ulquiorra. The same monster who stabbed him in the stomach and was about to blast him into oblivion. Uryū found it very curious that this creature, even though it should only be a form within Ichigo, was roaming around freely. This on top of Orihime telling him there was yet another hollow running around with him was even more confusing.

"Do you wanna start by telling me your name," Uryū questioned in a firm voice. "That is, if you can even speak to begin with. I seem to recall you not having too much to say the first time we met."

Vasto glanced over his shoulder to see several other metal rods surrounding him. He then remembered that White informed him about this little move the Quince would pull. "Actually," Vasto stated with his right index finger in the air. Him speaking definitely surprised Uryū but it was not like Vasto cared at all. "I would love to stay and make new friends but I really don't have time for this. So, why don't you pour that pixie dust on that little rod of yours, and let's get this whole thing over with."

Uryū found it even more surprising that Vasto not only knew what he was about to do, but Vasto was not moving out of the way. "As you wish," Uryū stated, this phrase was almost spoken in a question to signify his confusion. However, he still did as told. Just as Uryū tipped his little container over, allowing the blue dust to fall onto the rod which he placed at his feet.

As soon as this was done, Vasto blinked away. Before Uryū could realized this had happened, he felt a monstrous hand grasp onto his right forearm. Uryū let out a light gasp as he felt this hand grab a hold of him. He only got a final glance at Vasto before the hollow suddenly threw him straight into his own trap. Right as Uryū landed on the ground did a large wave of blue energy shoot out of the ground. This of course burned Uryū rather badly, signifying that he could not exactly handle his own medicine.

Vasto stood upright after he heard the energy die down. He then turned around to see if this had worked. Fortunately for him, Uryū was still standing in the middle of his ensnarement. His traditional white clothes were now tattered and smoking. Without so much as a cry of pain, Uryū dropped to his knees before promptly falling forward on his face.

"Stupid ass," Vasto announced smugly before disappearing once more, this time to regroup with Ichigo and White. His hopes now were to leave this town before someone like Urahara was to catch wind of all of this happening and rush to help Uryū and Chad. In reality, Vasto was not at all afraid of anyone in this town. He would not be intimidating in the least if everyone were to show up and try to kill him. He and White were pretty good as a combat team. However, there mission was not to destroy everything in sight, but rather search for a valuable object, even if some will end up dying for the greater good.

* * *

><p>Ichigo and White would arrive to an old broken down building on the opposite side of town. They were currently in a back alley, away from the bustle of the city. Ichigo found himself to be completely shocked as he noticed a familiar woman dressed in black standing by an open doorway which led to the interior of this building. Another surprising detail, although Ichigo did not care, was Kon who latched himself onto Eva's right boot yet again and was refusing to release her.<p>

"Hello again," Eva greeted in her that serene tone of hers. This caused Kon to look up and immediately yelped at the sight of White who was standing behind Ichigo.

"Careful, my love," Kon exclaimed but naturally he was ignored.

"I'm glad you'll be joining us, Carrot," Eva continued and gave him a warm smile.

Ichigo glared at her while his eye twitched in annoyance. This would explain why how Vasto and White even know about this odd world. However, the only thing Ichigo could really ask at this point was, "Is _Carrot_ going to be my new nickname?"

Before he could make a response, Vasto appeared to his left. "Alright," he breathed. "Let's get out of here."

Ichigo glanced to Vasto, curious as why his new friend took a different route, but said nothing on the matter.

Eva glanced to each of the people she would be escorting back to this world of hers. She even looked down to Kon whom obviously seemed willing to go along with her. "Then follow me, gentleman," she requested.


	4. Victor Aben

_Note: I apologize if there was little plot progression in this chapter, but I felt this scene was crucial for setting the tone of Victor's character for the rest of the story._

* * *

><p><span><strong>Victor Aben<strong>

In a dusty old bedroom sat a silent skeleton. He sat in an antique rocking chair on the left hand corner of the room. The skeleton was wearing a brown suit. Just like the one Ichigo had seen when he was half asleep in that broken down castaway depot.

The room was just as quiet as the skeleton sitting inside. The only audible sound inside was the white noise from an old radio sitting on a wooden side table which stood just to the right of the skeleton's chair. The entire room was of an old wooden framing. A single window lied on the right wall which allowed the sunlight to trickle in, giving the entire room. This light from a sun setting on a faraway mountainous horizon was only complemented by the color of the wood inside the room which gave everything a golden hue.

A small black and red spider crawled around on a little cobweb in a corner of the ceiling to the right side of the room. It kept to its own, waiting for an unfortunate insect to fly into its tightly woven silk trap.

The skeleton kept to his own as well. He loosened his black tie while not taking his empty eye sockets off of the pages in a blue covered book which he kept in his lap. A sick enigma he was. Much like the rest of the little world he lived in. A world titled Cyan for trivial reasons.

The man of bones then lowered his skeletal fingers away from his tie and shifted them back over the book he was reading. It was a manifesto. A book of ideals expressed upon by the very individual who now governed Cyan. He continued to read this doctrine of ideals until he suddenly perked up, as if remembering something.

The skeleton slowly turned towards the little radio sat perfectly upright on his nightstand. With those same boney fingers, he reached towards one of the nobs on the radio and turned it up. The white noise quickly filled the air, and a classical whistling sound could be heard. The same whistling one would expect to hear from an old radio of this sort.

Eventually, the white noise died down and a faint but understandable male voice spoke out from wherever this message was being aired from. That is, if the message had even originated from a physical studio to begin with.

"_The letter of the day is..._" he began. His voice all too familiar to anyone who heard the previous message. "_E... E... E... E..._"

The voice then cut off and the white noise regained control of the radio station. The skeleton stared blankly at the radio for a few brief moments. Nothing else came of this station. There was nothing more to say. What purpose was there to say anymore to begin with? The message of the day had been given. The media for the people, and creatures of Cyan had been received. Now, there was nothing left for the skeleton to do but cut off the radio. He did this soon after he finally processed what the man on the radio had said. The skeleton then pressed the nob down, turning the radio off.

Now, the white noise was completely gone. Silence filled the room as it usually did, but the skeleton named Charisma did not mind. He did not mind the ghostly silence at all. He found solitude in it. He was never appreciative of the way the world around him operated. The way life worked on Cyan was not very appealing to Charisma.

A good demonstration of a natural phenomena which was the reason Charisma often retreated to his home and locked himself inside was standing outside the window right this moment.

Charisma looked up to the window. He remained seated as he did this. While he was surprised to see an odd figure standing in his window, he was not too worried. Charisma closed his book, and placed it on the ground. He then sat back upright and tilted his skull to gain a better look at the unknown soul.

It was a man. This man was tall and slim. He wore a black suit and black tie. However, the most striking feature about this man did not reside in the article of clothing he chose wear for this ominous occasion. The man himself, had no head. Or at least he did not have the head of a human being like his body would proclaim. Instead, atop of the man's shoulders was an old television. Two antennas stood on top of the television head this man had. The screen itself did appear to be on. It played on a dead channel. The gray static danced around on the screen while white noise similar to what was heard on Charisma's radio sounded off from the small speakers attached to the actual television.

Charisma stared at the mysterious man with the television set for a head. What more could he do? Charisma saw no point in speaking with the daily anomalies that lived on the insane world of Cyan. This was only one of the many things Charisma had seen in his long lifetime in this horrid place. He was always as optimistic as possible, but every once and awhile, especially when he was confronted with an entity such as this. Charisma would grow slightly irritable.

At the moment, it was unclear what Charisma's opinion on this anomaly was. He did not seem to distracted by it since he eventually turned back to his book.

The man in the window. The man with the television for a head. The same man with no real purpose in life other than to bring insanity to those who look upon his horrific form soon became bored with watching the skeleton read his book in such an emotionless manner. The television man then dropped his shoulders in depression. He was either sorrowful for being such a heinous freak, or sorrowful just to add to the atmosphere he had presented. Regardless, Charisma did not think to hard on this. Eventually, the man with the television head walked away into oblivion.

* * *

><p>Ichigo found himself lying face down on a cold ground. The ground was covered in dead leaves and old twigs which had fallen from the canopy above. While he was in a forest of some sorts, Ichigo was half asleep and did not really move from his current position at first.<p>

His vision was blurred but he could see a dark figure standing to his right. He forced his eyes to open more to see who was there. Eventually his vision cleared just enough to see Eva sitting next to him. She appeared to be looking towards a treeline ahead of her and him. She would occasionally perk up as if she were hearing something or someone on the way but did not leave Ichigo. That was more than what he could say for Vasto and White. Ichigo was around 80% sure that he woke up about an hour earlier and saw them walking off into the woods without so much as stopping to examine him.

Eva would occasionally give a nervous glance to Ichigo who refused to stand up. He must have been disorientated from whatever method she used to bring him and the hollows here to Cyan. The sick little planet's atmosphere might also be providing no help in energizing Ichigo since it was so oppressive and heavy in nature.

It would take a few more minutes and Ichigo would finally work up the strength to turn himself over on his back. Eva immediately turned to him and gave a light wave. Ichigo was beginning to fall back to sleep but even as unconscious as he was, he could still see Eva was visibly worried although her facial expressions did not display that.

"Oh, good you're alive," she stated. "I was hoping you wouldn't die. Then again, I don't see why you would. Regardless though, I'm glad you came along. At least now I have a chance to get out of this whole situation."

Ichigo had absolutely no idea what Eva was talking about. Eventually, her voice faded to the background. She watched as he shut his eyes once more. Eva was growing impatient with him. She was hoping he would be fully awake by now.

"Damn, I don't know what's wrong with you," Eva said sweetly. "You look like you're dying. Oh well, I'm sure you'll wake up soon. You'd better. Those hollows took off as soon as we arrived here. I don't know why I ever thought those two weirdos would be the most trustworthy bunch. Either way, I really hope you can help me," she informed the sleeping Ichigo. She obviously knew he was not able to hear her at this point, so there was no clear reason why she was even speaking to him.

"I already called Mr. Aben. If you don't help me, I'm pretty sure he'll shoot me. I don't really see why he wouldn't at this point. So please wake up. Just long enough to help me find Cobalt. Then you can sleep all you want. Understand?"

Eva began growing very impatient with Ichigo and even shook him rather violently to try and wake him up, but it did not work out in her favor. He still lied their sound asleep. Eva finally let out a calming sign and shifted herself into a proper sitting position next to him. All she truly could do now was wait for this strange person she was expecting.

It would not take too long for voices to be heard from behind the treeline. Eva sat there next to Ichigo, waiting for this man named Aben. She lifted her head and looked towards the treeline across the small knoll the two were now sitting on.

Only a few minutes, what would appear to be twelve soldiers emerged from the trees and brush. The soldiers all wore identical, and very odd uniforms. They all looked as if they were Spanish conquistadors. A morion helm was present on each soldier's head. They wore a metal breastplate which covered their entire torso. A bright red and orange tunic was present underneath this breastplate. The tunic and even the matching pants looked to be straight out of a Shakespearean play since they were puffed out.

They each had a pair of tall leather boots as well. The soldiers also carried wooden rifles that looked to be pretty dated as well. It was clear to Eva that these men were the guardsmen of some sort of monarchist crown. The same crown she was waiting for. The men serving Victor Aben's regime.

Victor Aben was an infamous, yet beloved soul residing in the world which he named Cyan so long ago. It was unclear how he came to power since nobody remembers that time in history and it was not very well documented. Aben none of the less, was the supreme ruler of the planet. There was no other recognized sovereignty or governing body on the planet. This was halfway the case because nobody else cared enough to bring order to an orderless world.

While Aben was the only true leader of the planet. The people of Cyan gladly following his totalitarian regime, but that did not mean he was the only potential leader in the world. Indeed, Aben had one single rival. A man named Arthur Trotsky, which is why Eva would like to speak with Aben now.

She knew Aben hated her for a very legitimate reason. She also knew that Aben could have her shot, and probably would have her killed immediately upon his arrival. However, she viewed this as her last chance to redeem herself before the global regime. Or, the Republic of Cyan as it was more commonly called.

The soldiers began sweeping the area for anything they might find dangerous. After all, their leader was on his way. Everything would need to be absolutely secured before they allowed Aben to enter this area.

Two of the soldiers walked over to Eva. She slowly stood up in response and held her hands in the air.

"My friend is unconscious," she stated with a friendly smile on her face. "He shouldn't be a problem. He wouldn't hurt a fly."

The soldiers did not respond. One of them stood in the background, aiming his rifle at Eva while the second cautiously approached her. He then patted her down for any sort of recognizable weapon. When he was certain there was nothing on Eva, he backed away. He then turned and leaned down to pat Ichigo down.

"Mr. Aben is not pleased with you," the soldier standing off to the side began darkly. Eva turned to him, her smile only slightly wavering in a worried manner. "He still sees you as a traitor. You'd better have something good for him. For your own sake that is."

"Oh, believe me," Eva replied confidently. "I wouldn't have called you here if I didn't think I found a way to pay Mr. Aben back. I know he'll absolutely love my new plan. I tell you now, it will end his Bolshevik problem for good."

The soldier looked to her with cynical eyes while his comrades were now retreating back towards the treeline to go and retrieve Mr. Aben. "I hope you're right," the soldier began. He did not really want to see yet another execution this week. And he had to see a lot of them since he was in Aben's personal guard.

He then stepped aside and turned to face the trees. It would not be but a moment later when Aben finally emerged from the brush with several more guards guiding him along the thorny, green path.

Victor Aben was 36 years of age. He stood at around 6 feet in height. He was slim and slightly pale. He had black hair and vivid green eyes. Victor also had a notable mustache on his face. He wore a rather classy militaristic uniform. The uniform was of a dark blue which would almost not even look to be blue if it was not for the sun revealing the true color. The uniform was consistent of a stereotypical tunic one would expect to see a dictator wearing.

Victor wore matching pants and black shoes. He also wore a black belt and a cross-belt over his tunic. The black and dark blue created a stylish and interesting blend of colors. Victor always admired his since of style. This was not even his favorite uniform. However, nobody could see the tunic he was wearing, nor the belt and cross-belt since it was covered by a thick black coat he was wearing. It was considerably cold outside. There were even spots of snow on the ground scattered all over the place. This was how the climate behaved in this particular area.

Unfortunately, the topic for today's meeting would not be regarding his fashion since nor the weather of Cyan. Instead, it would be dealing with Eva. One of the most hated people in Cyan, and for a very good reason. Victor stared her down sternly. He came to a stop just a few yards away from her and shoved his hands into his pockets.

"So, you've turned yourself in," Victor asked in an almost sarcastic tone. He knew Eva was nothing more than a con artist. She was definitely not here to turn herself in, but saying this did scare Eva since she began backing away.

"Mr. Aben," she pleaded, her smile still present on her face. While her hands were shaking, she kept her posture as best she could. "I understand you might be just a little bit irritated with me, but I think I have found a way to solve all of our problems."

Victor tilted his head in surprise. "A little bit irritated," he asked quietly. "_I'm fucking irate_," he suddenly screamed which caused Eva to flinch ever so slightly. "You'd better have a check written out for all of the money you stole from the state because I swear to our dead god! If you don't pay me back right now, I'll have you locked in my basement for days on end, and watch as you slowly starve to death. The only food I'll give you will be the flesh from the corpses of your fucking relatives after I've gouged their filthy eyes out!"

"Please, Mr. Aben," Eva interjected. "No, I can't make up those investments you loaned me, but I have something better to do. I just need some time to explain. I think I can fix the entire situation. I can still prove that money was well invested."

Even now, Victor was unamused. He was too angry with Eva to even begin listening to what she had to say. In his eyes, she was still a filthy thief who was second to the top of his list of people he wanted to see die. And when someone made Victor's metaphorical list, there was only one way they could get their name off.

"You sick, twisted bitch," Victor hissed in a more quiet tone. He looked to her feet, far to angry to look into those demented eyes of hers. "Why the fuck should I listen to you? Why am I even wasting my time here in the middle of nowhere!? Do you wanna know why I personally traveled all the way out here?"

"Mr. Aben," Eva begged but it was no use. Once Victor began one of his rants, there was no stopping him.

"I came here so I could watch you get shot. Do you even realize what I've been doing since you ran off with the state's money!? I gave that to you and you ran the fuck off with it! Never to be seen again! So, you know what I did? I went around and found as many relatives of yours as I could. I found about 12 of you dirty pigs. When they didn't tell me where you were, I killed them. So naturally, when I go through all of that tiring work just to find one person. I tend to like to see them be executed in person so I know their dead!"

Victor then took a relaxing breath. His rant was finished and Eva's mind was completely scattered between what she had to say, and what Victor had just told her. "Now, if we're all done with the chitchat. I think it's time for you to take a little nap. Just stand by that tree and we'll get this over with. I still have a busy week ahead of me so don't waste my time any longer."

It would appear that Eva had no visible conscience. She did not seem to care that her family members were executed, but she really should have expected such. Victor would desire to humiliate Eva and make her life miserable in anyway he could think of before he finally allowed her the peaceful release of death.

"Just let me speak," Eva suddenly exclaimed uncharacteristically, and almost lunged for Aben. This caused a soldier next to her to instinctively hit her with the butt end of his rifle to keep her from actually attacking his leader.

Aben dropped his jaw in shock. He tilted his head once more in a dramatic manner, and watched as Eva fell to her knees. She held her stomach, doubled over in pain.

"Did I just hear you correctly," he asked. Eva was unresponsive, she really could not say much given her current condition. "Did you just give me a fucking order?"

Victor abruptly turned and looked around to the soldiers who were watching from the sidelines. "Did she just give me an order," he asked. A few of the soldiers nodded. Most where too intimidated by what was happening to give even so much as a non-verbal answer.

Victor then turned back to Eva and pointed towards the soldier that had just previously hit her. "You," he snapped. "Stand her up and do that again."

The soldier glanced at Eva and back to Aben. He crossed his arms firmly which meant he would hear no arguments. The soldier shuttered and reached down. He grabbed Eva by the arm and forced her up once more. Eva complied, but just barely. She then closed her eyes tightly, and waited for just a few split seconds before she felt the stock of the unnamed soldier's weapon hit her again in the stomach. This naturally caused her to fall to the ground, this time in a fetal position, rather than to her knees.

Victor glared at Eva while she moved around on the ground as one would expect from someone who was hit twice by a weapon. Victor normally resented such violence towards women, but for Eva, he could make a one time exception.

"I am the only person in this goddamn world who can give orders," Victor shouted. "Now, explain to me why I should listen to you? You want to try and tell me what to do? Well, I'll go ahead and let you speak anyway since I'm so generous. But this shit better be meaningful since it will be the last thing you say."

Eva did hear this. It took her a few moments to collect herself. To catch a much needed breath of air. She then shifted herself on her knees and pushed herself upwards. Still not standing completely upright due to the pain, she was still able to formulate words properly.

"I... I," she stuttered which caused Aben to lift a sarcastically curious eyebrow, and place his hands on his hips in false anticipation.

"I found this young man here," she murmured. Her smile began returning slowly to her face. It was hard to break Eva. She was still able to think clearly even after being beaten with a weapon twice, and even with all of the soldiers around her, she still kept her confidence.

"He's interested in Cobalt. I know we can find it. He and I can go searching for it. We won't come back until we have it. You can use it to destroy the Bolsheviks. And in return, you can clear my debt and never hear from me again."

Victor glanced to the right and spotted Ichigo lying on the ground. He then returned his scold to Eva. He was clearly unamused by her idea. How could he be? He did not even know the poor boy on the ground. Eva undoubtedly conned him in some way into doing this. Victor did not even believe for one second this boy knew what she was actually trying to do. The fact that Eva would manipulate this unknown lad the same way she conned him and his advisers was making Victor even more angry about the whole situation.

"So, you want me to let you run around with this kid, trying to find a damn myth!? That's all Cobalt is you retard. It's a myth. I'm not going to force that young man to go around chasing ghosts because of your fuck ups! Does he even know what kind of position you're in? Is he a Bolshevik or some shit like that?"

"He's not a Bolshevik," Eva responded instantly. "He doesn't even look like a Bolshevik. I'm asking you to give me one final chance to repay you. What does it matter anyway? That money is gone, and there's no way I can pay you back. This is still a win-win scenario for you. If you let me search for Cobalt, only two things will happen. Either I'll find it, and you can use it to stop the Bolsheviks, or I die trying."

Victor nodded silently. He was now visibly calming down, much to Eva's relief. He liked the part about Eva dieing for sure, but he did not like the part about involving this random kid named Ichigo into her problems. Her rather catastrophic problems.

"Alright," he growled. "I'm going to take you both back to the Capitol now. I'm guessing this kid is unconscious right?"

"Yes," Eva nodded.

"Then I'm going to wait for him to wake up. I'm going to tell him the whole story," Victor explained. "I'm going to tell him all the sick things you did before running out with that investment. Then I'm going to warn him that Cobalt is nothing more than a myth. If he still wants to help you then I'll let him wonder around with you. I'm also going to get to know this kid. After all, I've never seen him before," Victor continued as he crossed his arms.

"I'm going to have to see if I can trust him first, before I let him and you especially into certain areas of Cyan. If he doesn't want to help you. Then I'll let him off free and kill your ass. And if he starts acting suspicious since he is one of your friends, I'll kill him and you. So, this better be worth it.'

Eva nodded once more in confidence. She gave a quick glance to Ichigo before turning back to look Aben in the eyes. "It will be Mr. Aben. We'll find Cobalt."


	5. Kingdom

_Note: I previously recommended to people interested in the OC Arthur Trotsky to go and read __Frostbite__. However, that story does not exist anymore so this will be the only work he is actually involved in. Another story ended up replacing Frostbite which will effectively turn __Cobalt__ into a series. __Bolt__ was written for __Texhnolyze__ after I made the decision to delete __Frostbite__. Now, the reason I say this here is because __Bolt__ is written about a separate group of characters and events that also take place in the world of Cyan. The reason I did not announce this sooner was because the second chapter of __Bolt__ will completely spoil __Cobalt__. I have both stories planned out completely which is why I went ahead and began work on __Bolt__. The two stories are not directly related, the only similarities are a lot of the locations are the same and an OC from this story will also be involved __Bolt__. I can't say which OC since that will technically be a spoiler._

_Bolt__ takes place about 500 years after the events of __Cobalt__ come to an end. So while there will be very minor foreshadowing moments to __Bolt__ in __Cobalt__; and limited references to __Cobalt__ in __Bolt__, neither story is necessary if you are planning on reading one or the other. I just thought I would go ahead and warn the people who are already invested in this story that Bolt is not safe until you've finished __Cobalt__. I only warn the audience now because I got to thinking if someone were to read a few chapters of this story, then go look on my profile to see what other similar stories I've written and accidentally find __Bolt__. You've been warned. Also, since __Frostbite__ was deleted, there was one aspect of that story that I simply could not just throw out the door. I advertised it back in __War Child__(hint, hint) and I decided to add it to __Cobalt__. Enjoy._

_Oh, and one more thing. I really did not like the way Eva brought Ichigo, Vasto, and White to Cyan. All they did was jump into a pit. I plan to explain that in the next chapter further but it did irritate me. I could have thought of something better, but I did not want to waste anymore time on earth. Instead, I decided to write an entire story about Cyan's creation and why that building was able to act as a portal. The story is not released yet but will be titled __Sanctuary__, written for __Serial Experiments Lain__. __Sanctuary__ has absolutely nothing to do with __Cobalt__ or __Bolt__ so feel free to read it without fear of any sort of spoilers._

* * *

><p><span><strong>Kingdom<strong>

In an oversized living room located in an enormous mansion of a house; a young girl with short green hair and magenta colored eyes. These odd features were of course over looked in a world filled with incoherence. As for the more normal features about this woman, she wore a white sweater and a red dress underneath. The name of this insignificant soul was Nozomi Kujō. She was a small thing indeed, very weak and emotionless in nature.

She lived in the same house as Charisma. The old skeleton was even running around from the living room to his bed room at this very moment. Charisma was planning on attending an opera with some of his acquaintances tonight. He was currently rushing to both fasten his tie around his neck, and find his pair of opera glasses.

Nozomi watched as he left his bedroom with his pair of luxurious golden opera glasses in hand. Nozomi then watched as he proceeded to head straight for the front door. He suddenly stopped and turned to see what the green haired girl was up to.

"Well I'm off now Nozomi," he stated cheerfully and tipped his hat to her. Charisma spoke in the same type of voice one would expect to hear in a 1920s film. He was confident and always just as his name would indicate. "Will you be fine here by yourself?"

Nozomi did not say a word but merely looked away. Charisma took his as an immediately yes and waved goodbye. "I'll see you tomorrow then. I'm sure you'll be asleep by the time I return."

Charisma watched Nozomi for a few moments silently as he waited for a response. "Ugh," he sighed. "You're such a quiet girl. Why don't you say something for a change?" Once again, Nozomi said nothing. Charisma groaned once more in defeat. He would have nagged Nozomi further had it not been for the abrupt sound of his telephone ringing in the background.

"Ah, I should probably see who's calling first," Charisma announced and headed over to the phone which was attached to a wall near the back of the living room. It was near a doorway which led to the main stairwell, the only point in the house which could be used to access the second and third floors of the home.

Charisma quickly came to a stop just in front of the phone and picked it up. He then calmly placed it next to his skull. "Hello? Charisma speaking," the skeleton began cheerfully and waited for a response on the other end of the line.

No response came and after a few moments Charisma decided to speak out again. "Oh! Might this be my dear friend Culture?" Once again, no response could be heard. "Or is this Imperialism? Perhaps I'm speaking to Philosophy? You might have bad reception, but if it is one of you then fear not, for I am on my way to the opera house right now."

Finally, a response could be heard on the other end of the line. This voice did not produce words nor any other understandable dialect, instead the only thing Charisma could hear was a strange gurgling sound.

"I'm sorry, say again," Charisma questioned as if all were normal. He suddenly turned to Nozomi and snapped is boney fingers at her repeatedly. Nozomi immediately perked up which was the most activity she had done all day. She then stood up and walked over to a nearby coffee table. She picked up a single paper from a stack of blank sheets and a black pen. Nozomi then rushed over to Charisma and handed him the writing utensils.

"Yes," Charisma replied as if he was actually speaking to someone. "Yes, let me just find something to write this down on." Charisma then propped up the phone against his skull by supporting it with his shoulder as he used both hands to grab the pen and paper. He laid them against the wall and began writing.

The constant gurgling noise continued throughout the remainder of the phone call. It did not even stop for a moment, apparently the person on the other end of the line who was producing this sound did not need oxygen. Of course, this was only an assumption as the entity over the phone was probably not a person.

As Charisma finished writing out the seemingly encrypted message underneath the gurgling, a sudden and unexpected black liquid began oozing from out of the receiver. Charisma quickly dropped the pen and moved the phone away from his suit to prevent it from becoming stained by the odd black liquid.

Charisma allowed the liquid to finish pouring out onto the floor. He would clean it up later. Just after the phone stopped oozing did Charisma turn to see what he had written on the paper. In fact, he had not written anything down, but instead the skeleton drew a rather detailed picture of an old wooden chair. Charisma stared at his artwork for a few brief moments before he finally brought the phone back up to his skull.

"Ah, thank you for this, I have to hang up now but I'm sure we'll meet again good madam," he said politely and hung up the phone. Charisma then turned around and allowed the paper to drift onto the floor with the pen and black goop. "Alright, I'm headed off now," he called out to Nozomi who had returned to her original seat. "Please do behave yourself. Although, I never have to warn you to do so since you have always been so well behaved. Oh well, try to have some fun with your life while I'm gone." With that, Charisma left Nozomi all alone in that large mansion.

* * *

><p>Ichigo woke up on a velvet red couch. He was lying on his back and did not move at first. He stared up at a tall ceiling, not having a clue as to where he was. The walls and even the ceiling were all constructed out of marble which would indicate that wherever he was, it was an important place. It was probably a government office given the fact that those buildings were the most common places he knew of that utilized marble in architectural design.<p>

Ichigo still did not sit up. He was wide awake at this point but for some reason, he felt more inclined to lie here and wait to see if he could recognize this place just by listening to it. Eventually, he heard voices coming from the opposite side of the room.

"Mr. Aben," an unrecognizable voice stated from afar. "Miss Yomasa is waiting outside. We did as instructed and prevented her from entering the building. We've also attempted to research that boy she brought with her, but we could not find any information on him."

Ichigo then became more curious about what all the commotion was about. He finally sat upright and looked to the right where he saw a huge office with several pillars around a red carpet on the ground which led from the large double doors just a few yards away from where Ichigo was currently sitting, to a desk towards the back of the room.

The desk was positioned just in front of an enormous window which granted a rather gorgeous view of a set of mountains off in the horizon. Standing in front of the desk was what appeared to be a soldier. He wore yellow and red stripped cloths which strongly resembled something out of a Shakespearean play. He also wore a set of conquistador-esque armor. Sitting behind the desk was a man in a dark blue uniform. This man had his feet kicked up on the desk while he laid back in his leather chair.

"I really don't appreciate any of this," the man named Aben began in a quiet tone. He was only speaking in a softer tone because he did not want to disturb the rest of that stranger with the orange hair. "Right as I speak, we're finally beating the Bolsheviks back to that desert from whence they came. Now, Yomasa brings me that kid? I'm getting irritated if you can tell."

The soldier bowed his head to signal that he did pick up on this earlier. "I understand that Mr. Aben. Now, can I ask why you called me here other than to give you that small report? You wouldn't call a general to your office unless you needed something more useful after all."

"Oh you're right," Aben confirmed. "I do need to ask you a few questions if that's alright?"

"Anything for you Mr. Aben," the general replied.

"I need to know about this kid," Aben informed. "Honestly, it's not the kid that bothers me. What I'm worried about his this freak with the orange hair and Yomasa running around while we're trying to fight those Bolsheviks. Do you think it can cause any problems with the war effort? I'll cancel this whole thing and have Yomasa executed right now if it even proves a risk to me kicking Trotsky's ass."

The general tilted his head in an almost puzzled manner. "It should not effect our combat efforts at all my supreme ruler," the general answered. "The Bolsheviks have finally been weakened to the point where any attack at all will send them a few kilometers south. Even if we were still locked in that stalemate with them, I don't think it would prove problematic to have two people running around searching for something that doesn't exist."

Ichigo continued to watch these two speak, he could not hear what they were saying from his distance but he could safely assume they were talking about him since they randomly brought him to this strange place.

"Excuse me," Ichigo finally called out and lightly lifted his hand in the air.

Aben and his general turn to face him. They were obviously not expecting for him to wake up so suddenly. Aben then dismissed his general who in turn, immediately lifted his right hand in the air to salute the king of Cyan. The general then left the room, allowing Aben and Ichigo to speak alone.

"Hey kid," Aben greeted right after the general completely left his office. "Why don't you come over here and have a seat for a few moment," Aben asked politely and pointed to one of the guest chairs in front of his desk.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Eva Yomasa was sitting on a large marble staircase which led to the entrance of the huge capitol building where Aben, and the other heads of government worked to ensure that Cyan would forever be an organized and safe place to live.<p>

She sat their quietly with her hands wrapped around her legs in an attempt to keep the majority of her body warm. She was wearing her familiar black jacket of course, but the temperature out here was far too cold for her to bear. It was also nearing dark as well, Eva rolled her eyes impatiently, awaiting Ichigo and Aben to finish speaking so she could be on her way with her new little friend.

Eva tapped her right index finger against her knee with hopes to distract herself while time passed oh so slowly for her. Eva was now beginning to grow slightly hungry as well. She looked up to the sky and could actually see a few stars twinkling high in the daytime sky. This was odd for any planet but Cyan. During the day, one could still look up and faintly see the stairs around Cyan.

Eva allowed a mischievous and slightly creepy grin to break out on her face. "I'll have to take him up there at one point or another," she told herself. "The sky bridges are so romantic, especially at night."

* * *

><p>Ichigo was now sitting in front of Mr. Aben. The two had introduced each other previously and were now ready to figure out what was going on. Aben still wanted to know who Ichigo was and if he even knew the real reason why Eva brought him here. Ichigo on the other hand, wanted to know just what exactly '<em>here<em>' was.

"I'm gonna ask you a few questions my boy," Aben began. "Firstly, I want to know where you come from. You just told me a few moments ago that you weren't from around here. So where exactly did Yomasa find you? Also, what did she tell you she needed your help with? Did she tell you the real reason why she's searching for the legendary Cobalt?"

Ichigo glanced around in confusion. He shifted his eyes towards the window before returning his attention to the dictator of Cyan. "I'm uh, from Karakura Town..."

"Never heard of it," Aben replied flatly.

Ichigo lifted an eyebrow at Aben. He had a feeling that this was coming. It was clear that he was now in the world Eva was originally telling him about. "So this is Eva's home I'm guessing. She said I would be going to a completely different world. That means you wouldn't know about Karakura because it does not exist here."

"I suppose that makes sense," Aben sighed.

After he heard this, Ichigo widened his eyes in shock. He was not expecting Aben to believe him when he said such an outlandish thing. To Ichigo, Aben resembled an average human, or at least, an average totalitarian ruler. He was not expecting Aben to know that other worlds existed. He was slightly curious about how Eva was able to find him in the first place.

"You mean, you aren't surprised by that," Ichigo asked in a dumbfounded manner, and Aben simply shook his head.

"Ichigo," Aben began. "You haven't been in my little world for very long. You don't know how insane Cyan is. Believe me when I say that alternate dimensions are not the craziest thing I've heard of in my life. I've been around for a long time. Back a few thousand years ago, I reformed the masses and created a beautiful republic to help save the people from falling into total insanity. That's what Cyan will do to you. If you're alone or not living in one of the cities I built, then you'll go insane. So no, you say you came from an alternate reality and I say I believe you one hundred percent."

The orange haired lad nodded his head quietly and looked down. Aben did not take his eyes off the boy. Surprisingly, he was so much more polite to Ichigo than he was to Eva. This illustrated just how two faced Aben was in nature. When he liked you, he would always put on a friendly smile and offer tea, if he hated you, he made sure that you knew it.

"Now you still haven't answered my more important question," Aben reminded. "I said I wanted to know what that wretch Yomasa told you. What did she say? Did she even tell you why she's looking for Cobalt?"

"She didn't say anything about it," Ichigo explained. "She just said that she would escort us back here to this place you call Cyan and we could search for it."

"_We_," Aben asked with a raised eyebrow. He leaned forward and rested his chin in the palms of his hands with growing interest.

"I came here with some friends," Ichigo informed. "I don't know where they ran off to but they should be wondering around her somewhere. They couldn't have gone too far. Their names are Vasto and White."

"I see," Aben nodded and visibly gritted his teeth in anger but he did not demonstrate his sudden mood shift to Ichigo. "Here's what I'm going to do," Aben explained. "I'm sorry Yomasa got you involved in her troubles. You see, back two years ago, a few of my minsters made a sizable investment to Eva Yomasa and a research project she claimed she was doing. Well, fast forward about a year and half and we haven't heard from her since. I became a little agitated with the whole situation, so I sent a team of soldiers down to that laboratory of hers to see what was up. When they arrived they found a small group of weird looking plants, and no sign of Dr. Yomasa. Naturally, I ordered her execution. Now I'm guessing she thinks she can find Cobalt and is using you to help get her out of her legal trouble. So, with that in mind, are you still going to help her? I won't make you. You can stay here for as long as you need, but I will be killing Eva."

Ichigo looked up to Aben as soon as he heard this. He immediately knew by what Victor said that Eva did definitely deserve this type of punishment. She was stupid enough to steal money from a totalitarian regime, that was never a good thing, but Ichigo's more protective nature began to take hold even if he did not know Eva very well.

"Actually," Ichigo replied. "Since I did come all this way, I might as well search for Cobalt. There's no reason to kill Eva. I'll need her to get my bearings anyway. I'll just keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't try to run off."

He was clever in saying this. From what he could gather, Aben ruled over everything. There was no spot on this map that was not out of Victor's grasp. There was technically nowhere that Eva could go, but regardless Ichigo still wanted to show his respect to the supreme ruler of this little planet called Cyan.

Aben slowly nodded in satisfaction. "You know Ichigo," he stated in a more dark tone and narrowed his eyes at his guest. "I spent about four hours arguing back and fourth with my advisers. They wanted to have you and Eva both shot. In reality, It's actually protocol to do such a thing. However, I figured you could be useful to me. So be honest. Was I wrong? Would it be easier for me to just kill you both and finish this fight with the Bolsheviks alone?"

Ichigo was becoming more and more curious about this odd faction known as the Bolsheviks. They were obviously some form of pseudo-communist rebels, but that was all he managed to gather from everything he has heard so far. He would have to ask Eva later, or perhaps he could ask Aben who would probably be more truthful.

"No," Ichigo retorted with growing confidence. "We won't cause you any trouble. If you'll just tell me what to do and what not to do while I'm here than I can promise there will be no trouble." Ichigo was beginning to sweat nervously at the situation. He was currently defenseless and completely at Aben's mercy. At least Ichigo could tell that Victor was not very angry at Ichigo, there was no reason to be in the first place. All Ichigo really had to do was be polite to Aben, perhaps then he could gain a small sliver of the man's trust.

"Very well," Aben finally replied which caused Ichigo to sigh in relief. "I'll let you and Yomasa run around searching for that thing. There are no rules here other than obey me and my administrators around the world. Now, the only things I really need to discuss with you is a group of people called the Bolsheviks, and what you can expect in the outside world. Keep in mind that you and that woman will be completely alone. I'll call you from a radio that I'll lend to you when you leave but that will be all."

Ichigo nodded understandable. He was waiting to get some more information about this place, it would appear that now his wish would be granted.

* * *

><p>While Aben and Ichigo were busy speaking, two young men on the other side of the continent would be hosting a daily radio show the two always did. They were sitting in a recording room doing nothing at the moment. The first young man had black hair and brown eyes. He wore a red shirt and white pants. His name was Li Quang.<p>

The second man who was sitting in front of Li had brown hair and green eyes. He wore a navy blue shirt with a matching jacket and black pants. His name was Shei Wong. Both Shei and Li were the owners of their own radio station. The most popular station in Cyan mostly because it was the only source of news and entertainment the people of this odd little planet had.

They were also one of the major ways Aben distributed his propaganda across the world. Almost everyone tuned into Shei and Li's station if they were tired of listening to white noise and the occasional sound of someone being butchered alive on one of those supposed dead channels. That is actually a problem in Cyan. The governing forces investigated these odd murders that were recorded for multiple radio stations. Aben's regime never figured out where they came from and eventually, everyone stopped caring.

The studio room Shei and Li were sitting in was very messy. It was filled with old disks and several mixing boards that neither of them ever even used. The only buttons they ever worked with where the switches on their microphones and the on/off air button located on one of those dusty old mixing boards.

Shei was sitting on the left side of the large table where all of this equipment was lying while Li sat at the other end. He held a black telephone to his right ear and listened to someone speaking on the other end of the line. This person was undoubtedly one of Aben's propaganda ministers. Shei and Li were often ordered to give a certain number of government messages to the people every week. This quota was always met very easily since Shei and Li had no trouble in cooperating propaganda into everything they did.

Li slowly adopted an odd grin on his face as he listened to what the man on the other side of the phone call had to say. "No problem," Li muttered quietly. "We've got it handled. After all, we always need new stories don't we?"

Li waited for a few seconds for the strange voice to make a response before he spoke out again. "No, don't even worry about it. We did have a few things planned for tomorrows program but that can all be rescheduled or moved around."

The voice quickly muttered a few more sentences in reply. Li allowed him to finish before he made his own response. "Yeah, he's right here next to me," Li informed and glanced towards Shei who was sitting in a relaxed manner, not even paying attention to his co-host. "Alright I'll tell him. Tune in tomorrow if you want. We'll get that story out of the way early on because we have a few other things to discuss, but your story will have a good moment in the spotlight. _ Trust me._"

* * *

><p>Aben would soon dismiss Ichigo after the orange haired lad had told him everything that he would need to know. Aben in turn informed Ichigo about how Cyan operates. Ichigo was now prepared for a very strange adventure with his new found friend Eva who was currently leading the way through a small neighborhood.<p>

The place was quiet, no cars were present on the road which was why he and Eva were both walking in the middle of the street. Ichigo was simply following Eva whom he was trusting to lead her to the proper destination rather than somewhere irrelevant. For some reason, he had a feeling that Eva was not even looking for Cobalt. He could not shake the notion that ever since the two left the capitol building, Eva had been lying to him about their destination.

How would she even know where to go when she had not the slightest clue as to where Cobalt is? Ichigo was becoming more and more skeptical about her intentions but decided to keep his mouth shut on that topic. If he felt she was dragging him of course he would definitely have a few stern words with her on the matter.

"Hey," he finally spoke out. Eva came to a silent stop in front of him but did not turn around or even so much as glance over her shoulder. Ichigo too came to a stop behind her and opened his mouth to speak. "Do you hear laughing?"

Eva then finally turned back to him with a bright smile on her face. "Of course not, silly," she replied. "I think you're just hearing things. Now come on, lets get out of here. I certainly don't want you going crazy on me... or at least not _yet_."

With that, Eva simply walked away, leaving Ichigo blinking at her in confusion. He had no idea what she meant by this, but she said it in a rather odd way. Ichigo decided to shrug it off and follow Eva towards the sinister unknown which lied in the horizons afar.


	6. Opera House

_Note: I just realized I never actually left a note in the beginning of the first chapter about what this story use to be. I know I vaguely spoke about Cobalt being a remake of an earlier work of mine but I did not go in detail about that. So, for those of you who are actually interested then continue to read this note, if not then skip it because it isn't actually that important. Last year I originally released __Cobalt__ to be a small 6 chapter surrealist story. It was a crossover of __Yumi Nikki__ and __Bleach__. At that time the whole Cyan thing did not actually exist. Instead, the plot revolved around Ichigo being trapped in a dream rather than ported to some warped and horrible earth counterpart. There was no Victor Aben or Arthur Trotsky either which means there was also no power struggle involved. However, I did bring a lot of old scenes over from the original __Cobalt__. For instance, that moose in the first chapter was at one point one of the artistic visions of the original __Cobalt__. I was quite proud of that scene so I imported it to this work. All of the skeletons involved in this story were also brought over from the original work as well. The main character of __Yumi Nikki__ was replaced by Nozomi. I plan to include other more minor scenes from the original work as the story progresses._

* * *

><p><span><strong>Opera House<strong>

Ichigo woke up rather abruptly. He looked around frantically to see where he was before he suddenly remembered that he and Eva stopped to take a nap. They both fell asleep here under a large tree. Eva escorted him out Aben's hometown, the very capital of Cyan which was actually called Cyan, named after the planet it governed. It took them sometime to actually leave that large city. Eva was rather exhausted and decided to take a short nap here under this tree after they walked through the surrounding forest for about twenty minutes. Surprisingly, Ichigo was just as drained as she was, and did the same even though he was passed out for a long time.

"Hey Eva," he questioned just to try and figure out where she was at. He remembered her sitting against the other side of the tree to Ichigo's right. He naturally turned in that direction yet he did not see the young woman in black. She was completely gone. "Uh... _Eva_," Ichigo asked in a more nervous tone after realizing that he was now entirely alone here in Cyan.

Ichigo found this to be fantastic, his only guide through this insane world had gone missing. Ichigo signed and narrowed his eyes in annoyance. "Well, I guess I'll have to find her," he said to himself as he stood up on his feet. "I wonder what those two hollows are doing. I hope they're making more progress than I am."

Before Ichigo could think of anything else that he would like his mind to address, he silenced himself as he heard a faint sound in the distance. The sound resembled music. Ichigo turned around and leaned to the left to see what lied past the tree since the music sounded as if it was coming from that direction. After a few moments of listening, Ichigo suddenly realized that the music was actually a very faint humming. The humming also sounded as if it was coming from a woman's voice. He could not tell the tune this strange humming was trying to imitate but he could tell it was already sounding a bit haunting and slightly depressing.

Ichigo lifted an eyebrow curiously. "Eva," he asked once more but of course, no answer came his way. Ichigo then slowly walked towards the direction the humming was coming from with hopes of finding the source. One thing he only just now noticed while he did this was how drastically the environment changed while he was asleep. Ichigo came to a sudden halt and looked around while that humming noise continued to serenade him in the background. He was still in a forest as expected, but what was odd was how much the lighting had changed. For one thing, a thick ghostly fog was now floating around Ichigo to the point where he could barely see what was in front of him. This fog blocked out a majority of the sun's light from above which caused the forest and everything Ichigo could see to have a deep blue hue to it. He shuttered at the sight of the swaying atmosphere, but carried on as he was more curious about the humming than the weather.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, far south from Ichigo's current position, Vasto and White where having their own problems. They were in a much different environment from the one Ichigo was trapped in. This area was a flat grassy field with gray skies above. However, this knoll of grass was the least of their concerns. In the center of this large field was a crevice. This crevice led straight down into a dark oblivion and there was only one way across. For some reason, even though all reason was nonexistent in a place like Cyan, there was about five large stacks of analogue clocks all across the crevice. These clocks were stacked onto each other one after another, the stacks jutted out from the bottom of the seemingly bottomless pit, and came to a stop at the same level of elevation as where the crevice ended.<p>

These analogues kept ticking away in unity which created a most annoying atmosphere as Vasto and White attempted to make their way across this pit. White was already on the other side of the crevice. He simply jumped from one stack of clocks to the other and made it across in no time. The two already tried to use their 'otherworldly hollow abilities' to get across, but apparently they do not work here in the realm of Cyan. Even with this being the case, White had no trouble getting across. The real problem was Vasto.

Vasto was currently trying his hardest to hop from one very unbalanced stack of clocks to the next. It goes without saying that Vasto was a very unhappy camper. White was sitting on the other side of the crevice with his feet dangling over the edge as he watched with amusement. Vasto was now trying to balance himself one the third stack of clocks while he tried to keep it from collapsing on itself.

"Fuck... this... _place_," Vasto shouted as he leaped from the nearly falling stack of clocks to the next. He abruptly landed on the fourth stack which immediately began wavering under his weight. "Ugh! This looked so easy when you were doing it," Vasto announced as he outstretched both of his arms in a desperate attempt to keep from falling over.

Vasto then jumped once more and landed on the fifth and final stack of clocks. He wasted no time trying to balance out this stack. He simply jumped off of it and landed next to White on the other side of the crevice. Vasto let out a dramatic sigh of relief. He then turned around and took a seat next to his comrade White.

"I don't understand," Vasto complained. "Why is this planet so insane!? Was the god of this world under the influence of the magic mushroom when he was busy creating it?"

"_Mmrrgghh_," White rumbled in response.

"I doubt it," Vasto replied and allowed his right arm to hold up his chin since his head was not going to do the job on its own. "Actually, I'm not sure what this place is. We haven't seen one of those large cities since we bailed from that forest. Which direction did we go again? I know you've been keeping track of it."

"_Rrrmmm_."

Vasto groaned in response to hearing whatever it was that White was saying. "Are you serious," he asked with a loud sigh. "Did we really go south? That was the one direction that Yomasa chick warned us not to go! _Goddammit!_ Well, whatever. Let's just see what lies ahead of us. If those two are staying north than we'll have a better chance of finding Cobalt if we go the opposite direction. Eventually, one of us will stumble upon it."

* * *

><p>Night would soon fall over the insane planet of Cyan. A man in a suit with one single eye on his head stepped out of a black car that had just pulled to a stop in front of a large opera house. The cyclopes driver then came to a stop next to the back door. He reached over and pulled the door open. Not a moment later would pass and out stepped Charisma. The skeleton turned and gave a thankful nod to his driver. "Thank you kindly, Charlie," Charisma stated and walked off. Charlie tipped his visor cap at Charisma as he watched the skeleton walk away.<p>

Charisma headed up to the entrance area of the opera house where a crowd of other skeletons were either standing around talking about their anticipations for the upcoming show or they were already walking into the building. Charisma would not be walking in right away. After all, his friends were still out here. He would have to meet up with them first.

The bag of bones walked quickly across the line of parked black cars that belonged to other skeletons. He continued onwards towards a particular group of skeletons standing near the front doors which were illuminated by amber lights from inside the building. Charisma stopped in his tracks during his approach. He slowly turned to see something odd staring at him to his right. There in the distance among the crowd of passing skeletons, was a peacock. This peacock was not a normal bird of beauty though. It had its two wings outstretched. Underneath the wings was the arm of a man on the right side of the peacock. Underneath left wing of the peacock was the arm and claw of a crab. Instead of talons, this bird also had human feet. The large decorative feathers on its backside were all standing straight up. Charisma could clearly see a human eye blinking at him on the top of each feather. There was only one more striking detail about this peafowl, it had a black revolver in its human hand.

Charisma did not do anything at the sight of this. He simply watched as the peacock went about its business. The peacock in turn stared at Charisma blankly. After a few moments the silently bird lifted its human arm and aimed the gun at its own head. Once again, Charisma did not say a word. The peacock then promptly shot itself in the head and fell over on the ground bleeding. Charisma checked to ensure that no blood splattered on his suit. When he was sure he was perfectly clean, he walked away to go and visit with his friends.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Nozomi was sitting on the couch in her rather luxurious living room. The television was not on nor was the radio on the coffee table dialed into whatever station was on this late at night. Nozomi was weird girl in that respect. She did not enjoy hearing the voices of others nor did she find comfort in whatever entertainment awaited her in Cyan's media. She sat there in an upright fettle position with a depressed look on her face.<p>

This girl named Nozomi was by far the most depressing person Charisma had ever met. He took her in out of sheer pity. That and there was one other reason. That other reason was the one thing that made Nozomi such a miserable soul. She was constantly afraid of two individuals. Unfortunately for the unknowing girl, those two individuals were standing in the dark doorway leading to the main hallways of this large house right now.

Nozomi continued to enjoy her peaceful time in silence and solitude before it was interrupted by a calm and formal male voice from the other side of the room. "Excuse me, Nozomi. But it's been awhile since we last spoke."

The green haired girl's stomach dropped and tremors visibly took control of her hands. She slowly turned to the left where she spotted two shady figures standing in the dark hallway. They stepped into the light rather calmly and in a slightly creepy manner. Surprisingly, neither of these two gentlemen were skeletons. They were flesh and bone combined which was a rare thing for Nozomi to see in this part of Cyan. The first man Nozomi took notice in was standing to the left. He was short, no taller than around 5 feet. He had shaggy brown hair and brown eyes. He wore an odd red suit as well. His name was Mania. It was a name that suited him quite well. He had a crazed look on his face and almost insane grin to boot. The gentleman standing next to him was a tall slender fellow. He had short, combed back, black hair, and ominous red eyes. He wore a black suit and red tie. His name was Deception. He had a polite and friendly smile on his face, but this expression was by no means a trustworthy thing for Nozomi to see.

"Yeah," Mania began in a more greedy tone which was what anyone would expect coming from a man who looks like he just walked out of a mental ward. "What's the deal Kujō?"

Nozomi did not say a word at first. She merely watched fearfully as Deception and Mania continued to toy with her mind. They have been going out of their way to ruin her life since she was too young to remember. She never knew why these two randomly came out of the depths of Cyan to destroy her in such a torturous and psychological way. She never could see any clear reason for doing so, but Cyan nor her people never needed a reason for any of the things it did. None of the less, Deception and Mania tortured Nozomi in whatever way possible. They were never physically violent towards her as much as Mania wanted to be. Instead, Deception being the leader of this dynamic duo always enjoyed psychological torture.

"We think it's quite rude and slightly offensive to act as if we don't exist," Deception explained. "You should at least have invited us over for tea. I would absolutely adore seeing that old bag of bones, Charisma again."

Poor Nozomi did not have any way of retaliating from these two. She could merely insult them, but she did not even like opening her mouth in their presence. "How did you find me here?"

"You're not that hard to track down," Mania insisted in a crazed manner. "That perfume you always wear gives your position away quite nicely."

"I expected you to be smarter," Deception interjected to change the topic. Mania immediately silenced himself and Nozomi turned to him in confusion.

"Pardon," Nozomi muttered quietly.

"I figured you would be intelligent enough to leave this area," Deception replied with a tilt of his head. "You chose to stay with Charisma, but Charisma is an outcast just like the other freaks in this province. Aben used Charisma to gain control over this planet and threw him aside like the disposable tool he was. If you were smart, Nozomi. If you truly wanted to escape our presence, you should have ran for Aben's territory. Good deduction skills lead me to believe that you enjoy being the subject of our beautiful vision. I just wish you would participate more."

"Leave," Nozomi ordered in a shaky tone. "Leave now."

"Alright then," Deception abruptly remarked which surprised Nozomi greatly. She was not expecting either of them to be so cooperative.

"We'll be going now. We both bid you a temporary adieu."

* * *

><p>Victor Aben was sitting in his office. The very office that had governed the Republic of Cyan for several thousand years. That was one of the many things about Aben. He seemed to be immortal. Nobody ever really knew when Aben truly came to power. The only thing they know is what Aben's history books tell them. Those books are fairly accurate even if they do portray Aben as more of an icon and symbol. In actuality, he most certainly was an icon who symbolized an orderly Cyan, but this was always exaggerated in propaganda. However, the fact remained clear whether it was pushed propaganda or not. Aben started this government back when Cyan was ruled by anarchy. He killed a lot of anarchists before the entire population of Cyan surrendered to his regime. He has then ruled with a reasonable yet ruthless iron fist ever since. He never once seemed to age past the point of taking power either.<p>

As Aben sat there in his office, his thrown, his kingdom, he contemplated the Bolshevik rebellion in the southern area of the continent he lived on. There were only two continents in Cyan. This one which was called Vista 1, and a continent on the other side of the world which was ironically named Vista 0.

Trotsky ruled over the Bolsheviks. He created the movement twelve years ago in his home city of Athena. Trotsky, along with the Bolshevik masses lived in a huge desert. This desert surrounded the now infamous town of Athena where their revolution first began. Trotsky had fought against the entire world for twelve long years which Aben was quite impressed with. The fact that one city could expand into an empire and take half of Vista 1 when they were fighting the entire world was extremely shocking.

However, Aben was very relaxed by all of this. He just received good news from one of his generals. It would appear that the Bolsheviks have finally been pushed back into the southern desert from whence they came. Aben grinned at the thought of beheading his archenemy Arthur Trotsky in a public execution that will be aired for the entire world to see. That way, Aben would have an excuse to tell the people of the world, "try to destroy what I've achieved and you'll end up like this guy."

Aben was currently leaned back in his leather seat. With a smile on his face and his eyes closed in a relaxed manner. His feet were kicked up on his desk and he faced the ceiling above even if he was not directly looking at it. Surprisingly, there was another individual in the office with Aben. It was to a person by any stretch of the means. There lying in between the chair and the desk, just under Aben's legs was a full groan, 6 foot long crocodile. This crocodile was affectionately named Salty by its master Aben.

Victor loved his crocodile more than the people he governed. Salty was a rather cranky crocodile who has been Aben's trademark pet and sidekick for around two thousand years. Victor found a crocodile egg near a saltwater river just before he rose to power, hence the name _Salty_. That, and the crocodile's overall bad attitude earned him such a name.

It would appear that Salty was just as immortal as his owner Aben. Indeed, centuries would fly by, generals and senior officials who serve under Aben would come and go. They would serve their duty to Cyan and to Aben before retiring and being immediately replaced by new people who are just as capable to help Aben govern the world. However, as much as Cyan may change, two things were always the same. Aben was always in charge and Salty was his personal bodyguard. There have also been instances when Aben really hates someone, and will order them to be executed via his pet crocodile who has no qualms with eating a full groan man for lunch.

Salty abruptly opened his large jaws wide open and let out a loud hissing sound.

"Alright, you little piglet," Aben sighed in a relaxed manner. He leaned forward and reached for one of the drawers in his desk. He pulled the drawer open and suddenly pulled out a large dead salmon. Aben then threw the salmon up into the air. As it fell back down to the earth, Salty caught it in his jaws and began shaking it around as if he was trying to take out frustration on the dead fish for being such a boring meal.

Aben leaned back in his seat and wrapped his arms around the back of his head. He then proceeded to relax with his pet crocodile and waited until it was time for him to go home after such a busy day of 'hard work.'

* * *

><p>Ichigo was still searching for Eva in those dark hazy woods. He soon came to a treeline and walked past a wall of brush. Ichigo then came to an abrupt stop as he spotted a woman dressed in all black sitting on the ground in the middle of a clearing right in front of him. She was facing the opposite direction, humming a sorrowful tune which Ichigo had figured out was actually a funeral song.<p>

"Eva," Ichigo asked in an obviously creeped out manner.

The young woman abruptly turned around and looked straight at Ichigo. The orange headed lad was relieved to see it was that same cyan eyed girl who has been his escort through this ominous world. She gave a bright yet really off putting smile to Ichigo.

"Hey Carrot. I thought you were still asleep," she greeted.

"I already told you not to call me that," Ichigo argued and shot a glare at Eva. If he was trying to intimidate her into obeying his requested he had utterly failed seeing as how Eva playfully rolled her eyes at him.

"So I take it that you woke up," Eva questioned as she stood up and shoved her hands into her coat pockets. She then calmly walked up to Ichigo.

"Uh yeah," Ichigo said slowly and looked away from her as she walked a little too close for comfort.

Eva raised an eyebrow at him and tilted her head slightly to the right. "You're quite the lazy one aren't you? You wake up after being unconscious all this time and you take a nap with me all in the same day? I'm impressed by your lack of energy."

"Hey, I'm not usually like this," Ichigo retorted and returned his attention back to his new friend. "I'm just a bit out of it today," he informed with a scratch of his head.

"Well if your not tired anymore, I think we should leave," Eva replied as she placed her hands behind her back with false innocence.

"Alright."

Eva then turned around and walked away. Ichigo followed her since this was the only thing he could do. This entire trip to Cyan was nothing more than playing follow the leader. As the two continued to walk, Ichigo thought it would be a good idea to strike up an actual conversation with Eva. She was still a stranger to him and he knew he would probably trapped here with her from now on, or at least until he finds Cobalt, brings it to Aben and goes home. He still has no idea how he's even going to get home, but he figured that if anything, Aben would find a way to send him back to earth, the place he could safely call home. Until that time came however, he could try to make at least one friend while he's here.

"Hey," he abruptly asked.

"_Hmm_," Eva sang curiously as she walked on ahead of him.

"So, would you mind telling me a few things. About yourself? I know you've run into some trouble with that Aben guy. That's all I know about you though. Do you have any relatives or anything like that?"

"Are you asking me to properly introduce myself," Eva questioned. Ichigo was about to say something to reply to her question but Eva quickly interrupted him. She already sensed he was about to say something. It was almost as if she was reading his mind.

"I'm 19 years old," Eva explained and raised her index finger up in the air. "I was raised out in the countryside by my father. I always liked my father. He was so much more of a parent to me than that _whore_ who claims to be my mother."

"Ack, watch your tone," Ichigo nagged as he was caught off guard by Eva's fowl language. She went from behaving in an innocent yet slightly deceptive way to cursing her mother without warning. Naturally, Ichigo would end up reacting this way.

"Oh relax," Eva giggled. "She really is a whore. I'm so happy that she's dead now as well. Anyway, my father I assume was shot with everyone else I was remotely related to. You see, when I fled from Aben, he killed everyone he could find that even shared a small relationship with me. That means that you Ichigo, are the last person on this planet that I actually know. Everyone else was probably thrown into a mass grave somewhere in the wilderness. That being said, I don't think you know how grateful I am that you decided to help me even though you don't really know me."

"That's fine," Ichigo replied. "But I made a promise to Mr. Aben. So you'd better lead me to the places we need to check out for leads on where this Cobalt thing is."

"No problem," Eva stated confidently. "By the way, Ichigo. You look kind of on the young side. How old are you exactly?"

"Well, I turned 18 not but two weeks ago," Ichigo informed.

While Ichigo could not see it, Eva adopted a more devious grin for whatever unknown reason she had floating around in that demented head of yours. "Ew, that's good to hear. Well, here's to hoping we have a wonderful little adventure together."


	7. Conflict

**Conflict**

Eva led Ichigo towards a huge range of mountains which she claims separates Aben's hometown from the place she was born. She had not said much other than that but Ichigo assumed at this point that Eva was already leading him off course. That was of course not allowed under orders of the one and only Victor Aben. As Ichigo kept his eyes on Eva while she moved on ahead towards the mountains, the only thing Ichigo could think about was Aben's voice echoing in his mind the same phrase over and over again. "_If that woman leads you astray even once, I want you to kill her. Poison her meal, choke the life out of her in her sleep, but do not waste my time._"

Those were the last words Aben said to Ichigo before he and Eva finally embarked on their little adventure. He asked her where she was headed, but when Eva informed him that she wanted to see her old home one last time, Ichigo did not have the heart to deny her this right. He already knew that her family had been exterminated under direct orders from Aben. Naturally, he told her everything Aben said on the matter, but to his surprise, she was already well aware that such a thing had already happened.

"Hey," Ichigo began as he suddenly halted his previous train of thought and switched to a new topic. He was becoming more and more curious about the political situation of Cyan. He most certainly did not want to involve himself in this civil war he's been hearing so much about, but it would be nice to know just what kind of people he would have to look out for, and who was on his side.

"Hmm," Eva questioned in that usual soothing voice of hers. She did not slow her stride nor even so much as look over her shoulder. She merely allowed Ichigo to ask whatever it was that was on his mind. She had been waiting for him to finally start asking the important questions one would expect to hear in his situation. Eva was surprised that while Ichigo had asked a few vague ones here and there, he had mostly just gone along with whatever Aben and herself told him as if he were some sort of lemming.

"Can you answer a few more questions," asked Ichigo. Eva did not answer him and Ichigo took this as a sign that he was suppose to continue speaking. "Well, I'd like to know more about these Bolsheviks. Aben told me they were terrorists, but that was about it."

"What would you like to know," inquired Eva. She was about to shut herself up and allow Ichigo to begin picking her brain but she interrupted him once more. "Just remember that I've been kind of isolated for a little while, so my knowledge of the whole Bolshevik thing might be a little vague but I'll do my best to inform you."

Ichigo did not seem too put off by the disclaimer. Anything would be better than the little knowledge he had now. "Alright," he began. "Who's this Trotsky guy I've been hearing about? Is he there leader or something?"

"Yep," Eva informed. She looked over her shoulder and winked at him just to complement his good intuition. "Mr. Arthur Trotsky is the most hated man on the entire planet. He rose against Aben 11 years ago... or wait," Eva explained but widened her eyes as she just realized she had not gotten all of her facts straight. "Oh sorry," she apologized and blushed at her own ignorance. "Actually, tomorrow is the 12th anniversary of Trotsky's rise to power. So technically speaking, the war began 12 years ago."

"Where did it start?"

Eva sighed as she attempted to wrap her brain around all the information she had acquired from Aben's news outlets over the years. "In a town far south from here," she explained. "Actually, the city of Athena is just south of the equator on this very continent. There's a huge desert down there. Nothing but sand and cacti in that region. Yet there is a large population thriving in that old sandpit. Actually, that's what everyone calls it up here, _the Sandpit_. But anyway, Trotsky was born in a town called Athena. It's the biggest city within the desert region. At first nobody took him seriously, but eventually the people down there started listening to him. He was able to create an entire army and even occupied two of the surrounding cities. By the time Aben found out about what was going on down there, Trotsky was ready keep fighting. He had acquired enough manpower and industry to hold off our soldiers."

Eva had a feeling that Ichigo could not relate to what she was speaking of. She knew his world was divided into nation states which would mean that he was probably thinking the same thing about Aben. She had already told Ichigo that Aben controls the entire world, but she felt that he probably was still not fathoming what that would entail.

"Keep in mind Ichigo," Eva stated. "That the military is enormous. Aben controls ever square inch of both the soil and every last living thing on it. You see, here in Cyan. A young boy can only become one of two things for the most part, either he works in industry or in the military. About fifty percent of the male population is in the military while the other half works to keep the military supplied with weapons, ammunition, uniforms and so on. So Imagine, you're one revolutionary in the middle of the desert with only a few cities under your control. How long do you think you would last before you were completely overwhelmed?"

"Wait," Ichigo asked in shock. "You mean to say that this guy has survived with his regime in a desert for over a decade against the entire world!?" Eva nodded in response which Ichigo simply could not believe. He suddenly decided it would be better if Eva look him in the eye while she told him all of these insanely unrealistic tales of the past. He ran up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder which naturally caused her to stop in her tracks. He then span Eva around who in turn had no trouble in keeping her balance.

She smiled at Ichigo's astonished expression. "I'm telling the truth," she confirmed. "Not only was he able to hold off the military but the Bolsheviks began taking territory as well. They could only expand as far as the desert. It's a huge desert which covers the central area of the continent. He could never go past the desert and only just now have they finally been beaten back halfway to their point of origin. It's incredible isn't it? They survive in a desert where there is no natural resources other than fuel. All the food for those cities has to be imported, no water, and no timber. Yet somehow, the managed to launch an entire military operation against Aben and for the longest time, it worked. Of course it was inevitable from the very beginning. Everyone new they would lose eventually. It's simply impossible to go up against an entire regime with nothing more than a few mindless rebels and terrorists. The shocking part was that Trotsky has not been killed yet. But mark my words Ichigo, I have a feeling Aben will have Trotsky killed within the next few months, and everyone in the city of Athena will be slaughtered too."

Ichigo was about to say something but Eva interrupted him yet again. She clearly was not about to let him get a single word in or at least not with out her advanced input. "Of course, I'm sure that won't matter to you," Eva said in almost depressed manner. "After all, as soon as I give up on finding Cobalt, you'll go back to your home."

Ichigo said nothing in reply. He could tell that for some reason, she was upset by the idea of him leaving which he did plan to do as soon as he found Cobalt or if something else was to come along and warrant his departure from Cyan. He could not figure out why Eva cared so much. His silenced caused her to turn away and shove her hands back into her coat pockets.

"Oh, and Ichigo," she began just before she resumed her walking towards the mountains. "I hope that you won't actually leave," Eva continued which caused Ichigo to lift a confused eyebrow at her. "I would much rather prefer you to stay here. It's not like you'll be missing out on anything in your old world. Plus, I'm sure you're family has already forgotten about you. I would recommend you stay here with me. It isn't like you have anything better to do."

Ichigo was most certainly confused by the way Eva was acting. He knew there must be some reason why she would say something like that to him who at this point in time was still a stranger to Eva. He had a feeling he would figure out why she requested that odd little favor sometime in the near future. As a result, he said nothing. He simply followed Eva to the mountains on the horizon.

* * *

><p>Inside a recording studio which was positioned a long way from where Ichigo and Eva where exploring, Shei Wong and Li Quang were both sitting in their usual spots around a long table covered with old recording devices and other such objects that would normally be used for broadcasting or mixing, but Shei and Li never used them. In fact, Li had no idea how to work half of the equipment here nor had he have ever had to, he was convinced that Shei only purchased these items for nothing more than the aesthetic they created.<p>

Nobody ever knew why Shei and Li still did this old show on a daily basis. They technically controlled all propaganda and media in Aben's global regime. They made their fortune on promoting whatever Aben did and condemning anything that was done against his will. They began their careers when they were just barely out of their teen years. They caught Aben's eye just by their natural talent for entertainment. Naturally, Aben funded them to keep their positive feedback pumping through the Republic. In turn, Shei and Li opened up news outlets, filmed propaganda movies, and so on. However, Shei and Li themselves never were directly involved with these other projects. They only wanted to keep their beloved show going which is exactly what they did. Every weekday, Shei and Li switched on their microphones and gave the public a half hour episode before bidding their adieu, and returning the next day to do it all over again. The show started at exactly 9:00AM and ended at 9:30AM on the dot.

"I don't think we covered the story about the piranhas yesterday," Shei said in the microphone with a comical smile on his face.

"Oh, that's right," Li exclaimed as he widened his eyes in surprise. He was amazed that he was able to forget such an incredible story. "Okay, Shei and I cut the show off yesterday just when we were about to cover this awesome thing we experienced last weekend," Li explained. "What happened was, Shei and I went to a restaurant one night because we were super bored. Now, keep in mind that this was like..." Li paused and scratched his head. "Uh... two in the morning?"

"Yeah, it was about two or three," Shei nodded. This conformation allowed Li to continue his story with reassurance that he was getting the times correctly.

"Anyway," Li continued. "We left to go and get some food way late. I mean we really shouldn't be outside at that time of night because you know the only people out and about at around that time are crazy or they're criminals, but regardless, that's what we did. Now, we arrived at this weird little dinner and there was only about five or so people in it. We walked into this place and took a seat like normal, we weren't expecting crazy stuff or anything like that. Unfortunately, that didn't stop the crazy from finding us," Li sighed and rolled his eyes at the mere memory of what happened. Shei snickered to himself as Li's story progressed.

"We sat there for a good fifteen minutes I'd say, and everything was fine. But after that short period of time this couple walked in. Now I don't know what their deal was, but the chick walked in with this huge freaking box. Shei and I kept looking at it that box the entire time and we had no clue what it was. They took their seats on the other side of the room and that turned out to be a very good thing for us, because as soon as that poor waitress walked up to them to take their order; a fish jumped out of the box and bit the woman on the neck!"

"It was awesome," Shei cheered. "They were walking around town with a box of piranhas! I'm pretty sure that woman bled to death, but it was funny for the first few hours."

"Well, what was really funny about that," Li explained. "Was that the couple tried to leave. They calmly removed the piranha from that woman's throat, and they just left. Try to imagine, this poor girl is freaking out because she sees all that blood on her neck. A couple puts a piranha in their little box of death and they tried to leave. Now, right when they got to the door a pair of unsuspecting guardsmen walked in. The two people with the piranhas instantly went crazy. The man just dropped the box and surrendered. The woman he was with though, she put up a fight. She started throwing the fish at the guards and they just watched her for a few minutes. As soon as she ran out of fish to throw I could see this weird look on her face, and then the two guardsmen proceeded to kick the shit out of her until she finally surrendered. The two were both arrested after that and we never heard anything else about them again."

* * *

><p>While Shei and Li were busy speaking, massive military advances where going on in the famous desert which lied in the southern half of the continent known as Vista 1. The desert was also known as Vormic, which was the name given to the province that contained the desert. Granted, this desert was not at the southern end of Vista 1, but it was positioned just south of the equator. There was a separate part of the continent which was more of a luscious jungle that stretched from the bottom of the Vormic desert downwards. This would mean that Trotsky and his Bolshevik had to fight two fronts after they finally gained full control of Vormic. Only now were they beginning to feel the bitter sting of defeat at the hands of the often times ruthless Victor Aben.<p>

The man responsible for the strategic decline of the Bolsheviks would be a General in Aben's military who goes by the name of Francisco Pecorrta, or _Paco_ as most people nicknamed him. General Pecorrta was unfortunately assigned to 'handle' the Bolshevik revolution after the utter military failure brought on by his predecessor, General Malikov. General Malikov was the first commander appointed to combat the Bolshevik problem, but in the first year of his deployment, he died in a last stand with his few remaining soldiers. He simply did not know how to manage the expansive armies which were each assigned to the different generals. Now, several other generals were obviously assigned to back Malikov up including Pecorrta but for the first decade they were unsuccessful in putting Trotsky's movement down. It was only until two years ago, when Pecorrta finally took full control over the situation did they start winning ground again.

The reason this was unfortunate was due to General Pecorrta being an absolutely brutal leader. He often held no quarter for the Bolsheviks who surrendered. He would lock them away in POW camps that were constructed in the desert where he proceeded to leave them to rot under the hot sun. Paco was also known for simply shooting them on sight, and fire bombing the city of Athena into oblivion. In short, Pecorrta despised the Bolsheviks, and that was exactly why Aben allowed him to completely take over military operations in the insane way he did. The other generals randomly began receiving orders from Pecorrta. When they reported this to Aben, he simply told them to follow the orders. After all, Aben only wanted to win this conflict, and he did not care how it ended.

Pecorrta had even become infamous amongst the civilians living in Bolshevik territory. After he would either chase the Bolsheviks out of a city, or as Pecorrta preferred, trapped them in the cities and exterminate them all, he would later enact a vengeful fist upon the civilians who supported Trotsky's war effort. Factories that were known for producing the rifles of the revolution would be burnt to the ground and the owners would be shot down by a firing squad. If civilians were caught harboring Bolshevik troops or sympathizing with Trotsky's cause after Aben's men took control over the territory, they would immediately be killed. This was all legal thanks to a few laws that General Pecorrta had proposed to him after he gained a considerable amount of notoriety.

Francisco had dark brown hair and amber colored eyes. He also had a notable mustache on his face. As for his clothing, it looked stereotypical for a general in a monarchist military. He wore a very elaborate suit of armor that looked similar to the armor one would expect to see on a Spanish Conquistador. His arms and legs were fully armored as well as his body. He wore a morion helmet with an odd pattern carved in it. There was also a bright white feather attached to it. This feather matched the long white cape he wore on his back. While most high ranking officers would wear a cape to look important, Paco wore his bright cape to help the enemy find his location. He actually wanted them to see him. Pecorrta was always in the mood for a fight.

The most famous aspect about Pecorrta's appearance other than his cape would be the horse he was always seen riding. It was a white horse just like the cape he wore on his back. This often gave Pecorrta the title Paco the White. Surprisingly, Pecorrta enjoyed the name Paco immensely. He even required his soldiers to call him Paco instead of Sir Pecorrta which was the usual title for a general in Aben's armed forces.

Another detail about Pecorrta would be the two swords at his waist. The first sword attached to the left side of his waist was a classical Spanish rapier which was made entirely of silver. The most interesting detail about this rapier was the handle itself. Usually, rapiers were expected to have elaborate handles, but this one was very different. There was a metal design in place of the hand guard which actually resembled the solar system surrounding Cyan. There was one large ball built into the actual sword itself where the blade jutted out of. This metal orb represented the sun, and there were several thin metal rings extending around the sun which represent the orbital paths of the five planets in Cyan's solar system. At random points on these rings were smaller metal balls which represented the other planets in the solar system.

The second sword which was holstered at his right side was his standard combat blade. It was what one would expect of a Spanish-esque weapon. It was still very ceremonial. The handle was of gold and it was shaped like a Catholic cross. The blade on the other hand was made of steel yet it was just as shiny as Pecorrta's rapier. Ironically, there was a pistol attached to his waist just next to his broadsword, but it was very rare when Pecorrta actually used it. His pistol was just as impressive as his swords were. The pistol in particular was known for having a pearl handle and trigger.

Pecorrta was riding his horse through the desert in the midst of a minor skirmish between a small group of Bolsheviks and an enormous army representing Aben's regime. Unlike military tradition on earth, Aben always ordered his high ranking generals to fight in combat rather than stand on the sidelines and plan. This was actually an effective psychological trick he was playing on his top brass. Aben said to every newly promoted general that if he is to devise an operation or strategy, and expect _his_ soldiers to carry it out, then they would have to be just as confident to take a direct roll in it themselves. Naturally, the generals would always make sure their plans had a high success rate to ensure their own survival if anything else.

Francisco on the other hand was a completely different story. He enjoyed fighting the Bolsheviks, and killing them was just as enjoyable as the mere thrill of combat. Naturally, he was always at the head of the charge, but he was too skilled to be picked off by a simple Bolshevik so easily. He would often make up strategies as he went along. He could easily analyze how a battle was turning out from the very beginning and predict the victor. This gave Pecorrta a good idea of what to do and what not to do.

Anyone could take a look at the battle he was currently fighting and immediately call out the winner. The Bolsheviks had been slaughtered for the most part. Now, Pecorrta was ordering his men to hunt down stragglers, and shoot any enemy who attempted to flee the battlefield. Pecorrta hated weakness and cowardice above anything, and would go out of his way to kill the cowards whether they be humans or the Bolsheviks. At the end of every battle he would line up his soldiers and have them shoot anyone who tried to run away instead of staying and fighting or surrendering. Of course, the Bolsheviks never surrendered because they knew all too well what would happen to them if they did, and after they see their other comrades be killed, they would naturally follow basic survival instincts, and run away as fast as possible.

Currently, Pecorrta was chasing down not a coward, but a soul straggler who was still willing to fight him. Pecorrta had a more cocky smile on his face. The Bolshevik he was now advancing upon had no idea that he was coming. He always enjoyed seeing their reactions just before he killed his enemies. Usually, they were too starstruck to shoot and Pecorrta would not give them so much as a second to process anything.

Pecorrta forced his horse to a stop. He actually named his iconic horse _Ghost_ due to her white coat. He then spotted the Bolshevik he was hunting. This communist looked like every other follower of the equally ruthless Trotsky. The Bolsheviks were not human but they use to be. Instead, they all had somehow transformed into giant, six foot tall flies. They carried their long wooden rifles with the first two pairs of legs while their hind legs were used for walking. Oddly enough, the Bolsheviks never flew with their wings like one would expect to see from a fly. They simply ran around on two legs which appeared to demonstrate that they still had some human qualities, after all, humans could not fly. Strangely enough though, only dedicated followers of Trotsky morphed into these odd fly entities. Average civilians would remain human but if you joined the Bolshevik military or were simply a communist fanatic, you would naturally be changed into one of these heinous monsters. It was as if it was Cyan's own personal way of insulting these traitors of the Republic.

This Bolshevik was naturally shocked to see the infamous white general sitting on his equally infamous horse not but a few yards away. The overgrown fly had his rifle drawn but he was not aiming it at the general in the long white cape.

In a cocky manner, while several other defenders of Aben's regime ran up behind him, Pecorrta calmly reached for his rapier and pulled it out of the scabbard. In one smooth an unexpected motion, Pecorrta flicked the sword towards the Bolshevik. The rapier then promptly impaled the giant fly in the throat, which caused the Bolshevik to fall over cold and dead.

Just then, one of Pecorrta's personal guardsman ran up to him and came to a stop just behind the horse named Ghost. "Paco," he exclaimed. "You shouldn't go running off like that. It's hard for us to catch up to you on foot."

"My apologies if I worried you," Francisco stated in a firm and formal tone of voice. "Now, go retrieve my sword for me soldier. There is still much we need to do here."


End file.
